Syrian presidential election, 2014

Syrian Presidential Election, 2014

2007 ← June 3, 2014 (2014-06-03) → 2021

Nominee Bashar al-Assad Maher Hajjar Hassan al-Nouri Party Ba'ath Party Independent NIACS

Incumbent President Bashar al-Assad Ba'ath Party

Syria
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Syria
Constitution Human rights
Executive President (list) Bashar al-Assad Vice Presidents Farouk al-Sharaa Najah al-Attar Prime Minister (list) Wael Nader al-Halqi Cabinet
Legislature People's Council Speaker: M. J. al-Laham
Judiciary High Judicial Council Supreme Constitutional Court
Administrative divisions Governorates Districts
Elections Recent elections Presidential: 2007 2014 Parliamentary: 2007 2012 Political parties National Progressive Front Popular Front for Change and Liberation Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Syrian branch)
Foreign relations Arab–Israeli conflict
Alternative government Syrian National Coalition President: George Sabra Syrian Interim Government Prime Minister: Ghassan Hitto
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

Presidential elections will be held in Syria on 3 June 2014. It will be the first multi-candidate election in decades since the Ba'ath party came to power in a coup. Syria has the largest refugee population in the world, and voting for refugees in certain foreign countries has already begun.

The Syrian opposition is expected to boycott the election, and the vote will not take place in large parts of Syria under opposition control. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that amid the ongoing Syrian Civil War and large-scale displacement of Syrian citizens, "such elections are incompatible with the letter and spirit of the Geneva communique" and would damage prospects of a political solution with the opposition.

Background

Since 2011, the country has been plagued by the Syrian Civil War that has factionalised the population largely, but not entirely, along sectarian religious and/or ethnic grounds. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights states that the war has claimed over 150,000 lives. One third of the country's population of 23 million (some 7 million) have been displaced, with 2.5 million as refugees in foreign countries. As little as 6 million eligible voters remain in Syria out of a population of 23 million.

Refugees

The 2.5 million refugees and their ability to vote has resulted in several controversies surrounding this election.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees who did not leave Syria officially via border posts have been excluded from voting. Additionally, refugees in several countries, such as France and Germany, will not be allowed to vote as those countries do not recogize the legitimacy of the vote.

It was reported that ballot workers in the Syrian embassy in Lebanon—where 1.1 million of the refugees reside— handed out ballots to voters without asking for proof of registration, with even foreign reporters being handed ballots to vote.

Refugees have expressed fears that if they do not vote for Assad, then they will be subject to retribution by pro-Ba'athist elements in their host countries, and that they will not be allowed to return to Syria.

Procedure

The new constitution, adopted following the Syrian constitutional referendum, 2012, has changed the nature of the Presidential election from a referendum to a multi-candidate electoral ballot. As a result this election marks the first time that candidates can challenge the incumbent President. A law adopted by the Syrian parliament in early 2014 restricts candidacy to individuals who have lived in Syria for the past ten years, thereby preventing exiled opposition figures from running.

On 8 April Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi announced that candidates will be able to submit their applications during the last ten days of April. Zoabi insisted that despite the ongoing civil war that the election would proceed on schedule, and wouldn't be delayed for any reason. Zoabi also claimed that the "overwhelming majority" of Syrians wished to see incumbent President Bashar al-Assad re-elected. Zoabi also claimed that government military operations would continue despite the election.

Candidates

A total of 24 candidates, including 2 women and a Christian, submitted applications to the Supreme Constitutional Court for the presidency. Of these, two candidates other than Assad met all the conditions to run, including the support of 35 members of the parliament. The two other candidates chosen to run are seen as "mostly symbolic contenders" and "little known figures"

• Bashar al-Assad
• Hassan Abdullah al-Nouri, from the National Initiative for Administration and Change in Syria, a 54 year old MP from Damascus

• Maher Abd Al-Hafiz Hajjar, formerly from the People's Will Party, a 43 year old MP from Aleppo. This party is led by veteran opposition leader Qadri Jamil who supported the initial protests in 2011 but then described calls for the overthrow of the regime as "unrealistic and useless". Jamil was a member of the committee that drafted the new Constitution of Syria in 2011. However, People's Will won just two of 250 MPs in the 2012 parliamentary election with their allies from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party won a further four. Jamil was nominated Deputy Prime Minister by President Assad in June 2012 but removed in October 2013. The small number of MPs from the party indicates that most of his nominations must have come from either independents or MPs from the ruling National Progressive Front. A statement from the People's Will Party on 27 April distanced the party from Hajjar, claiming that Hajjar was no longer a member of either the People's Will Party, or the Popular Front for Liberation and Change. Instead the statement claimed that Hajjar represented only himself.

The other 21 candidates that did not meet the criteria were:

• Sawsan Omar al-Haddad, born in Latakia Governorate in 1963. (Woman)
• Sameer Ahmad Mo'alla, born in Quneitra Governorate in 1961.
• Mohammad Firas Yassin Rajjouh, born in Damascus in 1966.
• Abdul-Salam Youssef Salameh, born in Homs governorate in 1971.
• Ali Mohammad Wannous, born in Homs in 1973.
• Azza Mohammad Wajih al-Hallaq, born in Damascus in 1962. (Woman)
• Talie Saleh Nasser, born in Kafrin in 1967.
• Samih Mikhael Mousa, born in Btaiha in 1963. (Christian)
• Mahmoud Khalil Halbouni, born in Harasta in 1946.
• Mohammad Hassan al-Kanaan, born in al-Sanamayn in 1964.
• Khaled Abdo al-Kreidi, born in al-Al in 1966.
• Basheer Mohammad al-Balah, born in Damascus in 1931.
• Ahmad Hassoun al-Abboud, born in al-Mayadin in 1962
• Ayman Shamdin al-Issa Alam, born in al-Husseinyeh in 1967.
• Ziad Adnan Hakawati, born in Damascus in 1955.
• Ahmad Ali Qsei’eh, born in Jabaq in 1951.
• Mahmoud Mohammad Nassr, born in Zahiriye in 1969.
• Ali Hassan al-Hassan, born in Deir Saras in 1965.
• Ahmad Omar Dabba, born in Tazeh Shamaliye in 1969.
• Mahmoud Naji Moussa, born in Tadmur in 1950.
• Hossein Mohammad Tijan, born in Aleppo in 1961.

External reaction

The Friends of Syria also denounced the election, claiming it will be rigged and would be adverse to the premise behind the Geneva II talks. The group also questioned the veracity of an election given it would be run in the middle of a civil war and only within government areas, thereby meaning that millions of Syrians unable to vote as a result of the war either due to being in areas outside government control or due to being displaced.