An election that seemed already over.
Unsurprisingly, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was re-elected for a seven-year term with 95.1% of the vote, the Speaker of Parliament announced on Thursday.
The two other candidates who presented themselves in front of him, Abdallah Salloum Abdallah and Mahmoud Mareï, officially obtained 1.5% and 3.3% of the vote.
In a country ravaged by war since 2011, 14.2 million people took part in the ballot, out of the 18.1 million theoretically called to vote, i.e. a participation rate of 76.64% according to the President of Parliament.
Fireworks were fired from the city of Damascus to celebrate the victory of the Head of State at the head of the country for more than twenty years.
Propelled to power in 2000, Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father Hafez, who died after 30 years of unchallenged reign.
Celebratory firework in #Damascus.
Bashar al-Assad wins presidential elections with 95.1% of the vote.
pic.twitter.com/sYy5EiOkQe
- SAMRI (@SAMRIReports) May 27, 2021
The election took place in areas controlled by the regime, i.e. two-thirds of the territory, and in some Syrian embassies abroad. Even before the official results were announced, as the counting of the votes ended, tens of thousands of Syrians gathered in several cities across the country. In the port city of Tartus in the west of the country, crowds waved flags and portraits of Bashar al-Assad while some danced while beating drums, according to images broadcast by Syrian television.
# Siria🇸🇾 Succede ora!
Una marea di gente radunata sul lungomare della città di #Tartous sulla costa siriana per i festeggiare i risultati delle #elezionipresidenziali
No ditelo ai mass media occidentali storditi che non si rassegnano che è #GameOver # انتخwitterات_سوساي77F.h.
- Naman Tarcha نعمان طرشه (@NamanTarcha) May 27, 2021
An election "neither free nor fair"
This is the second presidential election in Syria since the start in 2011 of a complex war that claimed more than 388,000 lives.
In 2014, Bashar al-Assad obtained more than 88% of the vote according to the official results.
Westerners called the election "neither free nor fair" and the opposition denounced a "masquerade".
"Your opinions are worth nothing," the president replied to them this week.
Suspicions of fraud were confirmed this Thursday evening with the circulation of several videos published on social networks showing assessors ... filling out ballots themselves instead of voters.
In #Syria, #elections officials are so efficient & helpful that they even fill in the ballot paper on behalf of voters !!
pic.twitter.com/jNvHvG0iry
- Donatella Rovera (@DRovera) May 27, 2021
If officially the country has a little over 18 million voters, their number is actually lower, the war having divided the country and led to the flight abroad of millions of people.
In a country with ruined infrastructure, Bashar al-Assad presents himself as the man of reconstruction, after having chained military victories since 2015 with the support of his allies, Russia and Iran.
Read alsoSyria: for Bashar-al-Assad, a cult of the leader and an election already played
The election took place in the midst of an economic slump, with a historic depreciation of the currency, rampant inflation, and more than 80% of the population living in poverty according to the UN. The Kurdish autonomous regions of the northeast ignored the ballot. Just like the last great jihadist and rebel stronghold of Idleb (north-west), which is home to some three million inhabitants.
