The first Syrian presidential polls with choices started at 7.00am today. Voters have three candidates to choose from: President Bashar al-Assad, Hassan an-Nouri, a professor from the Damascus University, and Maher al-Hajjar, a member of parliament. Over 200,000 Syrians abroad have already voted. Syria opened polling stations in 43 diplomatic missions on May 28. The turnout was 95%.
A candidate needs 50% + 1 vote to win the elections in one round. Bashar al-Assad won the elections with 97.62% of the votes last time.
Ambassador Andrey Baklanov, an advisor to a deputy chairman of the Federation Council of Russia, said that the elections were essential and constitutional. He believes that postponing the elections would make the situation in the country worse. The diplomat expressed hope that the Syrian government will take all necessary measures to prevent terrorist attacks. Baklanov does not expect the re-election of Assad to cause any radical changes in the policy of the Syrian authorities.
The first alternate Syrian presidential polls started at 7.00am today. People have three candidates to choose from: President Bashar al-Assad, Hassan an-Nouri, a professor from the Damascus University, and Maher al-Hajjar, a member of parliament. Over 200,000 Syrians abroad have already voted. Syria opened polling stations in 43 diplomatic missions on May 28. The turnout was 95%.A candidate needs 50% + 1 vote to win the elections in one round. Bashar al-Assad won the elections with 97.62% of votes last time.Ambassador Andrey Baklanov, an advisor of a deputy chairman of the Federation Council of Russia, said that the elections were essential and constitutional. He believes that postponing the elections would make the situation in the country worse. The diplomat expressed hope that the government will take all the necessary measures to prevent terrorist attacks. Baklanov does not expect re-election of Assad to start any radical changes in the policy of Syrian authoritie
