- Title: SYRIA: Syrians take to street to celebrate al-Assad victory
- Date: 30th May 2007
- Summary: GIRL CRYING AND CHANTING VARIOUS OF THE DEMONSTRATION
- Embargoed: 14th June 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAE2T90L14YUMKW4MP3TGEOXVJ1
- Story Text: Tens of Thousands of Syrians demonstrated on Tuesday (May 29) in Damascus to congratulate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after his victory in the presidential referendum.
The demonstrators, mostly students and state employees, proceeded to the president's office carrying Syrian flags and pictures of him. Assad greeted the crowd from the balcony. The public appearance in the middle of the Syrian capital was almost unheard of in four decades of Baath Party rule.
Al-Assad won 97.62 of the vote in a referendum, confirming for a new seven-year term when the results were announced earlier this morning by the Syrian Interior Minister.
The 41-year-old president was the only candidate allowed to put his name forward in the electoral procedures leading to Sunday's referendum, which was boycotted by the opposition and widely regarded as a formality.
Parliament, which is dominated by the ruling Baath Party, held a session late on Tuesday to ratify the results.
All 250 members of parliament, called the Council of the People, rose and chanted "Syria has only God and Bashar".
Officials have made it clear that the ruling elite wanted the referendum to project a "modern and secure" image of Syria and Assad, partly through slogans tying his rule with stability in contrast to chaos in Iraq and political crisis in Lebanon.
Assad won 97.29 percent of the vote when he succeeded his late father, Hafez al-Assad, in 2000. One slogan popular during the elder Assad's rule was "Hafez al-Assad for eternity and after eternity".
Assad, who also controls the Baath Party, has kept the political system he inherited intact while slowly opening Syria's command economy.
A campaign started last year to crush dissent and several leading political activists were handed stiff jail sentences.
The Baath, which was founded by Syrian intellectuals, took power in a coup in 1963, banned the opposition and imposed emergency law. Parties attached to the Baath are the only other political groups allowed to exist legally.
Several challenges face al-Assad with the United Nations Security Council expected to approve the creation of a tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese premier Rafik al-Hariri but he has made it clear that his priority was to enable Syria to withstand increasing pressure from the United States.
Washington imposed sanctions on Syria in 2004, mainly for its support for the Lebanese movement Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None