Syrian Elections 2014

General elections in Syria are scheduled on June 3, 2014  for which  President Bashar al-Assad declared his candidacy on April 28 along with  two other candidates - independent MP and former communist party member  Maher Abdel Hafiz Hajjar, and Damascus businessman Hassan Abdullah  al-Nouri.  The Syrian constitution bars a presidential candidate from  running in an election who has lived outside the country in the last ten  years. 

Advanced polling was held in Syrian embassies of various  countries around the globe from May 29 to facilitate voting for Syrians  living outside their country.  

The Syrian embassy in Lebanon was jammed  with voters causing traffic jams on the streets with hundreds  of thousands of refugees heading for the polls.   According to the Lebanese media, more than 100,000 Syrians showed up at  the Syrian embassy in Beirut. 

Makes one wonder, is Bashar al-Assad that unpopular as the international media has been desperately trumpeting? 

Lebanon's coalition government staunchly opposes President Assad and his  Lebanese  allies.  The country is sharply divided between pro and anti-Assad  camps.  The immediate outcome of this massive turnout of Syrians in exile  was an unpleasant surprise for the Lebanese  government that wasted no time stating that those Syrians who vote "should be deported immediately because their security in Syria is not under threat."  What this silly  government doesn't understand or purposely ignores is that many of these  people didn't flee to Lebanon for fear of Assad; they fled because of  the invasion of foreign terrorists assisted by the allies of the  Lebanese coalition in the Arab world and the West.  The Lebanese interior minister stated to the media that Syrian refugees in  Lebanon will lose their status if they return home for a visit.  This  was followed by many more bitter and hate-filled comments toward the  Syrian refugees by Lebanese politicians and journalists.

Presently there are more than one million  Syrian refugees in Lebanon.  Since the last three years, the Lebanese people  had been staunch supporters of Syrian refugees and their humanitarian  crisis.  But this sudden wave of hatred from their government changed  their stance overnight.  Facebook and Twitter accounts of Lebanese users  are now infested with anti-Syrian rhetoric calling the refugees a "burden" that must be "lifted." 

May Chidiac, a rabid Lebanese  Maronite-Christian journalist referred to Syrian refugees as "occupiers" and their presence in Lebanon as "demographic overcrowding."  Her rants continued addressing the refugee issue as "a threat to Lebanon's stability and security" that they should return to Syria to defend Assad and "relieve" Lebanon of their presence.  Nadim Koteich, a Lebanese political satirist and talk show host demanded loud and clear "every Syrian who voted for Assad gets deported immediately."

Watching thousands of Syrians around the world going to their embassies  to vote, President Obama was just as disappointed.  While addressing the West  Point Military Academy, he said U.S. would "ramp up support for those in the Syrian opposition" and "coordinate with our friends and allies in Europe and the Arab world to push for a political resolution of this crisis."   In other words, he  made it clear that the U.S., E.U. and their Arab allies  would do their best to sabotage the Syrian election via the so-called  Syrian opposition, bulk of whom are foreign terrorists.  What a pity!   As author Brenda Heard stated "Such a stance is nonsensical.  Isn't an election the essence of a political resolution?"

No surprise, ""free"" countries such as Australia, Belgium, Britain,  Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan,  Qatar, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United  States have either shut down their Syrian embassies or banned the Syrian  embassy in their respective countries from organizing the polls. 

Humanitarian crisis in the 3-year Syrian war has taken such an  unprecedented toll that it needs to take center stage immediately; every other issue must be much lower in the list of priorities.  This election is a fine opportunity for the Syrians to  settle their disputes without bloodshed, make their own decisions and keep the  infiltrators out.  But that opportunity is being undermined again.  By  whom?  That's obvious. 

The Washington Post has particularly been spewing despicable propaganda such as, "Assad  is expected to win easily because there are no serious challengers .. constitution has been carefully crafted to exclude  political opponents."  It's alluding to the requirement of a  presidential candidate having the approval of 35 to 200 members of the  parliament. But it's ignoring the fact that that can be acquired if the candidate has genuine support  within the country.   As observed by analysts, the party aligned  with Assad in the 2012 elections won 168 seats, leaving 82 non-aligned  seats.  But the opposition had boycotted the previous election as well. 

According to the Washington Post, a widespread rumor triggered the  massive turnout, that those refugees who didn't vote wouldn't be allowed  to return to Syria;  the proof of every individual vote could be traced from the  identity papers the voters submitted to the embassies for registration.  However, the Post also admitted that the Syrian didn't make any such direct statements.  The media also hinted that the refugees who earlier supported  the opposition are no longer optimistic of its victory and thus they  didn't want to be in the bad books of the government. 

All of these are  stupid guesswork.  Firstly, it's normal and nothing unlawful for any  government in the world to keep a file record of voters' list consisting of  expats / refugees / immigrants.  Every government does that and it's  entitled to do so.   Secondly, even if some voters are changing sides  because they believe the opposition cannot win, it's their personal  decision that has swerved in favor of the government.  That is no reason  for the West and its allies to push harder with their proxy war by arming and financing  the terrorists and continuing to invade Syria.  Actually there have  been scores of recorded statements in blogs, websites and Youtube videos  from Syrian civilians who initially supported the opposition and then  changed sides and began supporting the government after being horrified  by the atrocities, thuggery and killings carried out by the so-called  Free Syrian Army in coordination with Al-Qaeda.

But did it really seem that the Syrian refugees were silently coerced to  vote for Assad?  Gatherings of joyous and gleeful Syrians preparing to  go to their embassies to vote was much in contrary to the gloomy  presumptions nurtured by the Western media.  Cheering crowds - men,  women and children - with pictures of Assad on posters and Assad's  images on T-shirts carrying the 2-star green Syrian flags were widespread that made the Lebanese government erupt with jealousy and frustration!   Voters never appear in such high spirits if they are forced  to vote under orders of their government.  Everyone would surely agree with that.