Presidential Campaigns Start in Syria

Date: 16 May 2021 - 21:39

News ID: ۹۰۲۴۷

DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – The Syrian presidential campaigns officially started on Sunday as posters of President Bashar al-Assad and the two other candidates filled the squares and streets in the capital Damascus and elsewhere.
Under the theme "Hope is in Work,” Assad has started his campaign where his posters, most of which were presented by Syrian businessmen and celebrities, filled the main streets in Damascus and other provinces.
His two competitors, Mahmoud Muri and Abdullah Saloum Abdullah, have got fewer posters in comparison due to the popularity of Assad.
Muri, a lawyer and a member of the Syria-based opposition, has started his campaign under the banner "Together”.
For Abdullah, the third candidate who was also a member of the Syrian parliament and a former state minister, his campaign features slogans about investments.
The election day is slated for May 20 for Syrians abroad and May 26 for Syrians inside the country amid street banners urging people to take part in the vote for the "future of Syria.”
Assad won nearly 90% of the votes in the 2014 election and is widely expected to win a fourth seven-year term.
Damascus has invited lawmakers from allied countries such Russia, Iran, China, Venezuela and Cuba to observe the electoral process.
Western members of the UN Security Council, led by the United States, France and Britain, rejected the outcome of the May 26 poll in advance.
In March, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden said it will not recognize the result of Syria’s upcoming presidential election.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that Western claims about the "illegitimacy” of the forthcoming presidential vote in Syria are yet another attempt to interfere in the Arab country’s domestic affairs and serve as a tool to exert political pressure on the Damascus government.
It said the election will be held in line with the country’s Constitution, reminding the U.S. and its European allies that the vote is an internal issue of the Arab nation.