The Syrian president won his third re-election. Those of last Wednesday were the second presidential elections since the beginning of the war. Despite the fact that at least a third of the devastated country lacked polling stations and ballot boxes, the spokesman for the Popular Assembly, Hammouda Sabbagh, announced Thursday night at a press conference that the Rais “won with 13,540,860 votes, 95 1% of the total”, with an astonishing participation of 78.6%. His two rivals, opponents tolerated by the system, were completely eclipsed.
Syrian state media showed numerous images of street parties in the main cities of government Syria, including Homs, Tartus and Latakia.. In Damascus, celebratory gunshots merged with fireworks, and crowds chanted “With our soul and blood we will defend you, Bashar! God, Syria and Bashar!”. It was the icing on the cake of a vote in which, as the videos showed, voters deposited ballot papers in the ballot boxes that the poll officials had previously marked with the portrait of Bashar Asad.
Bashar Asad, 55, in power since 2000, his father's successor and coup leader who ruled Syria with an iron fist for three decades, thanked his unsurprising victory: “Thank you to all Syrians for your high sense of nationalism and their remarkable participation…For the future of Syria's children and youth, let's start tomorrow our campaign to build hope and build Syria”. The northern fringe of the country remains outside government control, in Kurdish hands or extremist and pro-Turkey militias.
Although at least eight million displaced people live in those areas, the leader boasted of a victory disputed by European and US officials, who have alleged that these elections violate UN resolutions to resolve the conflict, lack international observers and do not represent to all syrians. Before the vote, Bashar Assad said that these criticisms had “zero importance” for him.
On the contrary, numerous analysts point out that this victory, even cosmetic, could contribute to the political consolidation of Asad as the victor of the war, which has lasted for more than a decade, and provide him with the support of neighboring countries interested in leaving the bloody conflict behind.. Not only Russia, Iran or even Venezuela – the first country to congratulate Assad on the victory – but also China or even Saudi Arabia, which once financed its opponents with weapons, want to get closer to Damascus.
The re-elected president has before him the difficult task of keeping afloat a country ruined by the war, but also by the sanctions imposed by the US last year and seconded by the EU, which hinder economic transfers and trade. The majority of the population lives below the poverty line and the local currency, the Syrian lira, has been devalued at a rampant rate in recent times, in which corruption has spread, compromising recovery.