TURKEY: A member of Syria's opposition dismisses parliamentary elections as "nonsense" and says there will be no democracy in Syria until Bashar al-Assad steps down

Record ID: 280776

  • Title: TURKEY: A member of Syria's opposition dismisses parliamentary elections as "nonsense" and says there will be no democracy in Syria until Bashar al-Assad steps down
  • Date: 8th May 2012
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (MAY 7, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON MOHAMMAD SARMINI WORKING ON LAPTOP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON, MOHAMMAD SARMINI, SAYING: "We absolutely do not recognise any elections in Syria -- what is happening today is a true farce, or an act the regime is carrying out to buy more time. How is it
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD3EHRY5BP4ZSNJ2ISNMZYNSPK
  • Story Text: As Syrians voted in a parliamentary election on Monday (May 7) touted by authorities as a milestone of political reform, a member of one opposition group based in Turkey said there is no chance for democracy while Bashar al-Assad remains in power.
    Syrian National Council spokesperson, Mohammad Sarmini, dismissed Monday's parliamentary elections as a façade because people were being killed every day in the 14-month-long anti-government uprising.
    "We absolutely do not recognise any elections in Syria -- what is happening today is a true farce, or an act the regime is carrying out to buy more time," Sarmini told Reuters from the Turkish capital, Istanbul.
    "How is it possible to have any democratic process while he (Bashar al-Assad) is killing people, killing children and violating all forms of human rights in Syria? Also the military is continuing its operation across various cities," he added.
    Violence persisted across the country between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels fighting to end four decades of dynastic rule by his family.
    In northern Idlib province, residents reported gunfire and explosions and in the city of Hama rebels and soldiers clashed early on Monday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
    In the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, three dissidents were killed in a dawn raid by government troops, the Observatory added, underlining the challenge of holding a credible poll and complicating the task of U.N. observers monitoring a ceasefire declared on April 12.
    Opposition figures boycotted the vote, saying Syria's revised constitution - which allowed new political parties to be set up this year - has changed nothing.
    "Today the Syrian people sent a message -- through the general boycott of elections in various cities -- that they are completely against taking part in this spectacle and they are determined to move forward in order to carry out a genuine change towards democracy and for the people to have the right to choose their representatives -- not for the regime to choose who speaks on their behalf while co-operating with the regime in their slaughter," Sarmini said.
    Unlike autocratic leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen who were toppled by the Arab Spring, Assad has kept enough support among the military and his Alawite sect, which dominates the army and security apparatus, to withstand the 14-month-old revolt.
    Assad dismisses the uprising as the work of foreign-backed "terrorists" and, counting on the diplomatic support of longtime ally Russia, says he will carry out his own reform programme.
    But the ferocity of the crackdown has appalled people across the globe and many foreign governments have urged him to step down.
    Since succeeding his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000, Assad has relied on a pliant parliament to rubber-stamp the will of the ruling family in the majority Sunni Muslim country.
    The assembly currently does not have a single opposition member and official media said half the seats would be reserved for "representatives of workers and peasants," whose unions are controlled by Assad's Baath Party.
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