Syrians abroad vote early in presidential election
Syrian expatriates and refugees living outside their country cast their ballots for the presidential election on Thursday ahead of the next week’s vote inside the country.
People are choosing from three presidential candidates, namely President Bashar al-assad, former deputy cabinet minister Abdallah Saloum Abdallah, and Mahmoud Ahmed Marei, head of an opposition party, according to Xinhua.
Syrian government is encouraging people to take part in the vote to determine “the future of Syria”. Polling inside Syria is set for Wednesday. Dozens of Syrian embassies abroad, including those in Russia, Jordan, Iran and Kuwait, opened their doors to eligible voters.
In Lebanon, home to 1.5 million Syrian refugees, thousands flocked to the Syrian Embassy on Thursday to vote.
Buses packed with Syrians jammed main roads leading to the embassy in Baabda, south of Beirut, where crowds began gathering before dawn amid tight security, according to AFP. Outside the embassy, voters chanted slogans in support of Assad and carried portraits of the longtime president and his late father Hafez.
Mohammad al-doummani, from the Damascus countryside, was among the first to vote.
“I voted for Bashar alassad because I believe in his project,” Doummani told AFP, after casting his ballot.
“I have full faith in him and his ability to drag Syria out of crisis”.
The election will be the second since foreignbacked war erupted in 2011. The conflict has killed more than 388,000 people and prompted more than half of Syria’s pre-war population to
flee their homes.
Outside the embassy in Lebanon, voters chanted: “God, Syria and Bashar”.
Abdul Rahman, a 21-year-old from the northern province of Aleppo, said he too was voting for Assad.
“He did everything for us,” said the man who has been living in Lebanon for five years.
“He gave us healthcare and education for free. Look at the difference between the situation in Lebanon and the situation in Syria”.
Assad, who took power in 2000 on the death of his father who had ruled for 30 years, has regained control of most of Syria after 10 years of fighting that has devastated the country.