Russia Said to Back Early Syria Vote to Give Assad New Mandate

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

Henry Meyer
Stepan Kravchenko
Ilya Arkhipov
October 22, 2015 — 7:35 AM EDT

Russia is pushing for early presidential elections in Syria that may give President Bashar al-Assad a fresh mandate, hardening opposition to demands for his ouster from the U.S. and its allies.

Assad would decide himself to run or not, a senior official in Moscow said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. The wartime conditions that much of Syria is suffering under shouldn’t be an obstacle to conducting a poll, the official said.

The U.S., the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council all refused to recognize the previous election, last June, when Assad won another seven years in power with 89 percent of the vote. Assad has lost control of most of the country during a civil war that’s left more than a quarter million dead and triggered Europe’s worst migrant crisis since World War II, but the areas he still holds contain a majority of the population.

“There’s no alternative” at the moment to Assad’s government when it comes to “countering Islamic State and other terrorist groups and safeguarding Syrian statehood,” Ilyas Umakhanov, deputy speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, where he oversees international affairs, said by phone from Moscow on Thursday.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-22/russia-said-to-back-early-syria-vote-to-give-assad-new-mandate

[Sunlei]

1. Putins pulling another crimea play. will the 12 million homeless get to vote by mail?

[uawchild]

2. I am sure ISIS will allow free and fair elections in their areas of Syria /sarcasm

Yeah, how can free and fair elections even be attempted in Syria when 2/3 of the country is occupied by ISIS and "moderate jihadists" like Al Nursa? Throw in Assad's control of his third and, honestly, what would a sham election prove nationwide?

I suppose a strong showing in Assad's rump state of Syria might make the US and Saudi Arabia reconsider the need for peace talks to end the conflict, but I am somewhat of a dreamer when it comes to hoping for compromise and peace talks.

[Nitram]

3. Good luck with holding an election during a 5-way civil war. nt

[uhnope]

4. I love it when big dictatorships give advice on elections to smaller dictatorships

[Little Tich]

5. I can't see how such an election would be possible under current circumstances. n/t

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. He said this with a straight face:

"The wartime conditions that much of Syria is suffering under shouldn’t be an obstacle to conducting a poll, the official said."