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Bashar al-Assad in the election
Photo: LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Victory with announcement: According to official information, Syria's ruler Bashar al-Assad received a large majority in the presidential election in the civil war country.
The 55-year-old received 95.1 percent of the vote, as Parliament President Hammudah Sabbagh announced on Thursday evening.
The authoritarian ruling head of state has been in power since 2000.
For him, the fourth term of office begins after the election.
The two competitors had no chance in the vote last Wednesday.
They were only considered candidates for counting.
In the election seven years ago, Assad received around 89 percent of the vote.
The government troops and their allies control around two thirds of the civil war country.
Only in these areas could the Syrians cast their votes.
The choice met with sharp criticism.
The opposition called it illegitimate and spoke of a "farce".
The Kurds ruling northeast Syria also declined to participate.
Germany and other governments in the West criticized the presidential election as "neither free nor fair" and "fraudulent".
There has been a civil war in Syria for more than ten years, in the course of which around twelve million people have been displaced.
Many areas have been destroyed.
In addition, the country is in a serious economic crisis.
Millions of people suffer from hunger and poverty.
Internationally, Syria's government is largely isolated.
EU extends sanctions
This was also made clear this Thursday by the fact that the EU extended its sanctions against the Assad government for another year.
The punitive measures "against the Syrian regime" and its supporters remained in force until June 1, 2022, announced the Council of Member States.
The sanctions include an oil embargo, restrictions on investments and a freeze on Syrian central bank assets.
In addition, the export to Syria of equipment and technology that can be used to oppress the population is prohibited.
This also includes devices for monitoring telephone and Internet traffic.
An arms embargo against Syria is no longer in force after its extension failed in 2013.
Great Britain and France prevented this in order to be able to deliver weapons to Assad's opponents.
At the same time, the EU updated its list of sanctions against individual representatives of the Syrian government and their supporters.
There are currently 283 Syrians standing on it.
They are banned from entering the EU, and possible assets in Europe have been frozen.
In addition, 70 organizations and companies have assets frozen in the EU.
"The EU sanctions in Syria are designed in such a way that they have no impact on humanitarian aid," declared the EU Council.
This means that the delivery of "food, medicines and medical equipment is not impaired."
dop / dpa / AFP