Alwaght- According to the Syrian government, presidential elections will be held on May 26. This is the second presidential election since the devastating conflict rocked the county in 2011. In the last vote in 2014, Bashar al-Assad gained 89 percent to secure another term as president of the Syrian Arab Republic. According to national constitution, each presidential term's length is 7 years.
According to Article 88 of the Syrian constitution, the president can serve for only two terms of 7 years, but according to Article 155 of the same law, this article does not apply to Bashar al-Assad, because the implementation of the new law started in 2014. Just unlike the past time that the presidential election was referendum-like, this vote sees three rivals.
Maher Abd Al-Hafiz Hajar, leader of the National Will Party and representative of Aleppo in the parliament, and Hassan Abdullah Nouri, the head of Damascus Chamber of Industries, are two key rivals to Assad, though have a slim chance of success over the current president who won much of the country back from ISIS and other foreign-backed terrorist groups in a fierce war, assissted by close allies Russia, Iran, and Lebanese Hezbollah. The election is of special significance for the Syrian people and the history of the Syrian developments after the crisis.
Moving past war, rebuilding security and economy
The start of the Syrian crisis in 2011 with the Western-Arab-Turkish plot generating the century's most catastrophic conflict led to vast rise of terrorist groups, ISIS emergence, Kurdish rebellion in northern parts, entry of Western actors to Syria without permission of the official Syrian government, Turkish intrusion to the Syrian territory and supporting the terrorist militias, and imposing illegal sanctions on Damascus by the US and the EU that made a massive suffering for the Syrians in various parts of the country. A large number of the Syrians were displaced as a result of the military conflict in their country.
Over the past year, in addition to US sanctions and domestic disasters, the coronavirus outbreak and the neighboring Lebanon financial crisis have exacerbated the situation in Syria. But in the meantime, there has been a very significant change. In recent years, the most important issue for the Syrian citizens has been security and the return of terrorist-held areas to the central government control. However, in the new conditions, this priority has changed, giving place to another one. Now military conflict have ceased to be a priority and the main demand is rebuilding the economy and improving it to the pre-war levels.
Special conditions for participation
In addition to changing the priorities of the Syrian citizens, the new presidential election is facing special conditions. According to research figures, out of a total 26-million population of Syria, only 16.4 million live inside the country, and from this number only 9.4 million are eligible for voting. The reality is that years of crisis forced millions of Syrians out of the country, disturbing the country’s demographic makeup.
Elections will certainly be held in areas controlled by the government, but holding them in the Kurdish-controlled areas is in a state of ambiguity and in areas controlled by terrorists like Idlib province and northern Aleppo province there will not be a voting process. But elections will be facilitated for Syrians abroad. According to Damascus, all Syrian citizens living abroad can cast their votes on May 20 in the Syrian diplomatic missions.
West seeking to delegitimatize elections
Along with the announcement of a new presidential election, the US-led West began campaigning to paint the election illegitimate. Washington, an uninvited actor in Syrian crisis, recently took a strong stance on the holding of the presidential election in Syria. US's acting deputy ambassador to the UN Jeffrey DeLaurentis said on March 19 "the United States will not recognise these elections unless they are free, fair, representative of Syrian society, and supervised by the United Nations." The European powers, Germany and France, and also the EU took similar stances against the Syrian election.
The opposition, which relies for its life on the Saudi and Turkish supports, are propagating the election boycott. Among them are Nasr al-Hariri, the head of what is called "Riyadh platform" and the High Negotiation Council, and Mustafa Sejari as the head of the political office of the Free Syrian Army, a Turkish-backed militia.
All these statements are made while in recent years, the pro-military approach of these parties and groups has not achieved anything but destruction and loss of life and financial security of the people. This beside their dependence on the foreign governments pushed down their public support to the lowest rates. Despite their propaganda and boycott of last year parliamentary election, large turnout rates bore witness to the expiration of these groups' influence in the Syrian political equations.
The main goal behind the foreign and Syrian opposition actors' election delegitimatization campaign is prevention of stability in Syria and Damascus strength gain that would empower the transition to post-crisis period.
Elections decisive for the Kurds
Another important issue regarding the Syrian election is its decisiveness for future of the Syrian Kurds. After 2014, they acted as the US infantry to undertake pursuit of the American strategy in the war-ravaged country. Following the election announcement, the Americans tried to persuade the Kurds to boycott the vote and disallow the citizen participation. But on the other side, Russia is pressing them to agree to allow free election in the areas under their control, mainly in the north.
By their way of dealing with the presidential election, the Kurds somehow determine their political future in the country.
During the war, they boycotted the vote but in Hasakah and Raqqa allowed election process in areas where the Syrian government forces were present. In the new circumstances, they need to have their consent for the vote in a show of good faith to the central government. Otherwise, in the central government dialogue with the Kurds, Damascus will take this into consideration and a heavy price for them could ensue.
