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You are here: Home / Library / Books / ‎17. Elections in Syria‎

‎17. Elections in Syria‎

14-January-2008 By shrc_admin

The year 2007 saw three election events; Parliament elections ‎in April, a referendum on the President in May and local ‎government elections in August, all of which saw the absence ‎of proper democratic measures and standards.‎


The Ba’th party’s lot in Parliament is 134 out of a total of 250 ‎seats, and with its ally; the marginal National Progressive ‎Front Coalition, it enjoys 172 seats. This leaves to the rest of ‎the Syrian people less than 80 seats or so (independent), most ‎of whom are either the newly rich who share strong ties and ‎relationships with security officers and major figures within the ‎regime.‎


As a result of the absence of any real democratic competition ‎and with the share of the Ba’th party and its allies guaranteed, ‎Syrians demonstrate a deep and considerable sense of ‎apathy. At a time when the regime carried out a number of ‎measures in order to raise the numbers of voters, including ‎holding elections on working days ‎and punishing government ‎employees who’s ID cards show that they have not voted, ‎numbers have failed to rise above the 10% mark in all three ‎election campaigns. However, this did not deter the Ministry of ‎Interior from declaring the numbers at 97% for the referendum ‎on the President, 35% for the Parliament elections and 49% ‎for the local government elections.‎


The referendum on the President lacks the bare minimum ‎conditions of democracy, as no one is allowed to nominate ‎themselves, as nominations can only be made by the higher ‎strands of the ruling Ba’th Party which has a complete ‎monopoly over state and society by virtue of Article 8 of the ‎Constitution, designed especially by the former President ‎Hafez al-Asad in 1973, and does not allow for anyone to stand ‎for the position of President.‎


What was worse was that a number of citizens were arrested ‎after the referendum on the President and disappeared in a ‎variety of prisons and interrogation centres, including Misbah ‎Ala’iddin from the village of Bisnada in Latakia after casting a ‎‎‘no’ vote in the referendum.‎
A number of journalists who covered the referendum were ‎attacked by security officials and were ordered out of the ‎country immediately, including the Iraqi correspondent Saif al-‎Khayyat from JJ Japanese media agency who was arrested, ‎abused and subjected to sever torture before being ordered ‎out of the country.‎


SHRC documented many cases in which citizens were ‎coerced and forced, either individually or collectively to vote ‎with a ‘yes’ in the referendum. SHRC also documented a large ‎number of cases in which ID cards (lost or replaced) were ‎issued in order to ensure dubious castings. A number of ‎agents for the independent candidates in both the parliament ‎and local elections stated that they had been ordered to leave ‎the polling hall a full hour before polling closed, which casts ‎doubts over whether papers were replaced. Also the private ‎voting booth was discarded during the referendum, and reports ‎confirm that security officials stood over ballot boxes to ensure ‎the vote was a ‘yes’, and to report the names of those who ‎cast a ‘no’ vote, so that they could be persecuted later.‎


Syrian authorities refuse to allow any party, public or ‎international, to monitor elections and ensure their fairness ‎and transparency. The authorities also refuse to accept any ‎appeals or protests pertaining to the elections. It is noteworthy ‎that all denominations of the Syrian opposition boycotted the ‎elections due to the total absence of any standard of ‎democratic notion, as well as fairness, transparency and ‎freedom as a result of the Ba’th party’s right to the majority ‎vote by virtue of the constitution.‎

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