The President of the Parliament announces it
(ANSA) – DAMASCUS, MAY 28 – As was expected, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was re-elected to lead the country for another seven years, with 95.1% of the votes. The announcement was made by the President of the Damascus Parliament.
The vote had been harshly criticized by the United States, Great Britain and the European Union who had called the elections a farce, for the absence of real opposition candidates and independent checks on the process. Assad said these allegations were “worthless”.
The two rival candidates, Abdallah Abdallah and Mahmud Marei, who did not have any credit with the opposition, nor visibility in the electoral campaign, obtained respectively 1.5% and 3.3% of the votes.
Speaking at a press conference, Parliament Speaker Hammoud Sabbagha said that 14.2 million Syrian citizens voted, out of the 18.1 million who were eligible, or 76.64%.
Bashar al-Assad has been in power since 2000, when he took over from his father Hafez. (HANDLE).