SYRIA: Syrians vote, Assad runs uncontested for second term in presidential ballot

Record ID: 278520

  • Title: SYRIA: Syrians vote, Assad runs uncontested for second term in presidential ballot
  • Date: 27th May 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SHEIKH MOHAMMAD WAHBEH SOULEIMAN, SAYING: "We say yes to President Bashar al-Assad. Yes for keeping the nation stable and the religion stable."
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAS08FJDO7TLUOE8QILH1CRKXS
  • Story Text: Syrians go to the polls to re-elect President Bashar al-Assad for a second term in a ballot widely viewed as a formality.

    Syrians went to the polls on Sunday (May 27) to re-elect President Bashar al-Assad for a second term in a ballot for which he was the only candidate allowed to run. Religious clerics and Assad himself were amongst the voters.
    With Iraq plunging into sectarian strife and instability in Lebanon, state media and the ruling Baath party have emphasised Assad's command of a strong state, economic reform and his vision of upholding Arab rights in the struggle with Israel.
    "We say yes to President Bashar al-Assad. Yes for keeping the nation stable and the religion stable," Sheikh Mohmmad Wahbeh Souleiman said after casting his vote.
    Parliament unanimously chose the 41-year-old as the sole candidate for president earlier this month. At least one other contender, a lawyer, said his application was ignored. The presidential term is seven years.
    Bashar won 97.29 percent of the vote last time when he succeeded his late father, Hafez al-Assad, in 2000. Similar margins were normal in such votes during the elder Assad's rule.
    Campaign films showed Assad with Western officials who have visited Damascus lately to emphasise what Syria views as its success in defeating U.S.-led attempts to isolate it.
    But Assad faces immediate challenges. The United Nations Security Council is expected to approve the creation of a tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
    A U.N. investigation has implicated Lebanese and Syrian security officials in the killing. Syria denies involvement.
    Syria says the court is a U.S. tool aimed at destabilising Damascus and punishing it for its pro-Palestinian stance and support for Lebanon's Hezbollah.
    Economic performance is central for Assad's strategy of building legitimacy and raising Syria's profile as a pivotal Middle East player.
    But oil exports have been declining and a huge welfare state and public sector are deepening the budget deficit, already at four percent of gross domestic product.
    Although Bashar has slowly opened the economy, he has kept firm control of the political system, which the Baath have monopolised since a 1963 coup.
    A new campaign to crush dissidents was launched last year and leading political activists were arrested and handed years of jail sentences for criticising government policy.
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