Fearing reprisals, Syrian refugees wary to vote in election Kareem Chehayeb © President Bashar al-Assad won the last presidential elections in 2014 with 88.7 percent of the vote . President Bashar al-Assad won the last presidential elections in 2014 with 88.7 percent of the vote [File: David McNew/Getty Images]
Beirut, Lebanon – With a presidential election slated for next month, millions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon have been urged to get out and vote.
Syrian state television filmed people registering at the embassy in Lebanon as an “expression of their resilience against unjust Western schemes and sanctions”, according to the reporter.
Parliament announced last week that the presidential election would be held on May 26. According to Syrian state media, 22 people have submitted their nomination requests so far, including incumbent President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Assad is widely expected to win the vote and rule the war-ravaged country for a fourth sev
The UN, Jordan Call For Acceptable Political Solution in Syria
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MEI Syria Annual Conference
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October 19, 2020
Pro-government supporters and regime forces attend a flag raising ceremony at the entrance of the Hajar al-Aswad neighbourhood on the southern outskirts of Damascus after the regime seized the Yarmuk Palestinian camp and adjacent neighborhoods, 24/5/2018 (AFP)
BEIRUT In April 2018, Mona Khaity got on a green bus in the city of Douma, in eastern Ghouta, leaving behind five years of siege and her home, which remains empty to date. This 37-year-old laboratory doctor is one of the 12 million Syrians forced into displacement, inside Syria or abroad, many of whom have seen their Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights violated.
Mona, currently living in Turkey, lost her home as a result of being displaced under a so-called ‘reconciliation agreement’, while others have been displaced because of the bombs. Further, thousands have seen their properties seized through counterterrorism legislation. The Syrian Network for Human Rights has documented 3,970 seizures
At that time almost two-and-a-half years had passed since the Dutch Syrian scandal began to unfold.
According to revelations made by Dutch media, financial and material support had been given to war criminals and jihadist groups in so-called opposition-controlled areas in Syria.
In the parliamentary debate, Sadet Karabulut asked whether it was true that Rutte and his government had tried to stop a motion for an independent inquiry into the Netherlands’ support for opposition groups in Syria.
“Yes, of course … We have advised to vote against the motion,” Rutte replied, according to the protocol of the debate.
An investigation would be a threat to the Syrians in the opposition and might create tensions between the Netherlands and its allies, he said.