[The first of the two reports, the one that reports the poll result, is from the Western mainstream media; the second one is from a (major) section of the radical Left in the UK.]
I/II. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-05/syrias-assad-re-elected-president-in-farce-election/5501422 Syria election: Bashar al-Assad re-elected president in poll with 'no legitimacy' By Middle East correspondent Hayden Cooper <http://www.abc.net.au/news/hayden-cooper/5352142>, wires Updated Thu 5 Jun 2014, 7:25am AEST Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been re-elected in a landslide win, after a vote in which much of the country could not take part. The speaker of Syria's parliament, Mohammad al-Laham, says Mr Assad won the election, with 88 per cent of the vote. "I declare the victory of Dr Bashar Hafez al-Assad as president of the Syrian Arab Republic with an absolute majority of the votes cast in the election," Mr Laham said in a televised address from his office in the Syrian parliament. The constitutional court in Syria says the turnout for the election was 73 per cent - an unlikely figure given that the vote did not take place in opposition-held parts of Syria. Voting took place in government-controlled areas of Syria, but not in large parts of northern and eastern Syria held by rebels fighting to end 44 years of Assad family rule. It is Mr Assad's third seven-year term in charge, and comes despite a civil war that has divided the country, killed 160,000 people, driven nearly 3 million abroad as refugees and displaced many more inside Syria. Former minister Hassan al-Nouri got 4.3 per cent of the vote, while parliamentarian Maher Hajjar secured 3.2 per cent, less than the number of spoilt ballots. Mr Assad's foes have ridiculed the election, saying the two relatively unknown and state-approved challengers offered no real alternative to Mr Assad. Visiting neighbouring Lebanon, the US Secretary of State John Kerry said the election was "meaningless". "With respect to the elections that took place, the so-called elections, the elections are non-elections, the elections are a great big zero," Mr Kerry said. "They are meaningless, and they are meaningless because you can't have an election where millions of your people don't even have the ability to vote, where they don't have the ability to contest the election, and they have no choice." Foreign Affair's Minister Julie Bishop has said the election had "no legitimacy". "No credible election could be held under the conditions in Syria," Ms Bishop said. "While the Assad regime collects ballots from government-controlled areas, it continues to bomb civilian neighbourhoods and deny millions of Syrians food and medicine." The European Union said in a statement: "These elections are illegitimate and undermine the political efforts to find a solution to this horrific conflict." II. http://socialistworker.co.uk/art/38274/Sham+vote+held+in+Syria+amid+ferocious+repression Sham vote held in Syria amid 'ferocious' repressionby Judith Orr Presidential elections were taking place in Syria as Socialist Worker went to press. President Bashar al Assad looks set to win a third seven-year term in office. The dictator is cashing in on his success at taking several rebel areas in recent months. Ghayath Naisse, a member of the Revolutionary Left Current, told Socialist Worker Assad's regime has used a strategy of "bombing and starving" to break the revolt. The media and all professional organisations and state trade unions have driven support for Assad's re-election. His campaign propaganda refers to him as the "lion of all Arabs". There are other candidates, but Ghayath said, the election "is a masquerade". The other candidates are simply there to maintain the illusion of democracy, and have no real campaign. Millions of Syrians who have fled from Assad's assaults are to be excluded from voting. Once Assad has won he has made it clear that he will continue to come down on the opposition with an "iron fist". Ghayath said that Assad was out to "completely eradicate the revolution" adding that after this "first try at making a revolution against Assad the counter revolution is ferocious". -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
