Syria's presidential elections have
ended. President Bashar
al-Assad appears certain to win. Voting began yesterday morning while the civil
war continued to rage.
The elections, which were extended for five hours,
was only held in government controlled areas. Anti-government groups say at
least 28 people were killed in battles in the capital Damascus and elsewhere
yesterday.
Election officials said, a larger number of people
showed up to cast their ballots. They apparently intend to stress that the
election process was legitimate, with many voters taking part.
But anti-government forces and Western nations
remain critical. They called the vote invalid and a farce.
United States has denounced Bashar Al-Assad's
attempt to shore up his authority by staging the Presidential elections in the
middle of a brutal civil war.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf yesterday
said that the Presidential election in Syria is a disgrace and Assad has no
more credibility. Harf said the decision to hold elections was detached from
reality and part of a 40-year legacy of violent repression.
Meanwhile, Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin
has insisted that Syria's Presidential election, which Bashar Assad is certain
to win, is not an obstacle to a political settlement of the devastating war and
urged the UN chief to quickly appoint a new envoy to revive stalled peace
talks.
Churkin said a replacement for UN-Arab League peace
envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who resigned last month, is needed to create conditions
to move the talks between the government and opposition forward, stressing that
there is no military solution to the three-year conflict.
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