It is tragedy that the Syrian government is planning a presidential election in the middle of a civil war as men, women and children are being killed. The complete chaos in that sad country will make it impossible for any genuine voting to happen, and it will be ridiculous when the incumbent President Bashar Al Assad declares himself the winner and then claims some added legitimacy from the result. After his father died in 2000, Al Assad was quickly elected president with what the government claimed was 97 per cent of the votes. This was re-affirmed in 2007 when Al Assad got another unopposed seven-year term with 97.6 per cent of the votes. It is very unlikely that any smaller percentage would be acceptable to Al Assad this time, so another huge victory margin is almost certain.
Al Assad will use the election to bolster the perception that he is a bastion of stability against the religious extremists in the opposition. He wants to frighten the moderate Sunni majority and the other religious groups like the Alawites, Druze, Christians and others to support his secular government, and the July election will do no more than fit into his public relations campaign to show that he is a popular and successful leader. He is also making the point that more than three years of civil war have failed to dislodge him or his government, and he is set to stay with what he will call popular support.
