Syria holds Presidential vote June 3

Candidates can begin registering today for Syria’s presidential election, which the country’s parliament speaker says will take place June 3.

The vote announced Monday will give President Bashar al-Assad the chance to win a third seven-year term in office.

Assad has been battling rebels in a conflict that began as peaceful protests in March 2011 and quickly grew into a civil war that has killed more than 150,000 people.

Another 2.6 million people have fled Syria to surrounding countries, and the crisis has displaced more than 6.5 million people within Syria.

The president has been in power since 2000 when he took office following the death of his father, who had ruled Syria for 30 years.

Assad won his second term in 2007, taking 97 percent of the vote in an election boycotted by the opposition and one in which he was the only candidate on the ballot.