Desperate to cast a ballot, Syrians jam up embassy district in Beirut
Advance voting in Syria's presidential election begins today. Although there is widespread skepticism about the legitimacy of the vote, enthusiasm was high among exiles in Lebanon.
Advance voting in Syria's presidential election begins today. Although there is widespread skepticism about the legitimacy of the vote, enthusiasm was high among exiles in Lebanon.
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Clinching months of tactical victories for the Syrian regime, next week's presidential election kicks off today with advance voting for Syrians living overseas.聽
Leading the ballot is President Bashar al-Assad, who has led the country through a three-year civil war that has killed an estimated 160,000 people, caused an exodus of 3 million, and displaced internally many more.聽
Mr. Assad is heading into the election with renewed confidence聽after his forces regained control of the city of Homs in early May, the Monitor reports:
The official election date is June 3.聽International observers have criticized the vote as illegitimate聽and impossible to hold during a civil war, The New York Times reports.
That hasn鈥檛 slowed the momentum. Today thousands of Syrian exiles in Lebanon jammed the streets outside the Syrian embassy in Beirut to cast their ballot on the first day of expatriate voting.
Most of those gathered said they were voting for Assad. 鈥淢y blood type is Bashar,鈥� Ahmed al-Ali, a restaurant worker from Aleppo told the Times. 鈥淚 eat bread Bashar brings to Syria. Every country has mistakes, Bashar is going to fix all our mistakes,鈥� said Souad Abu Hilal, a beautician.
The Associated Press reports that the scene at the Syrian embassy was chaotic. Lebanese soldiers had to beat back Syrians clamoring to enter the embassy compound, and inside, voters overwhelmed the limited voting facilities:
But underneath the apparent enthusiasm for Assad was a measure of fear, writes Lebanon鈥檚 Daily Star.
The Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul-Karim Ali, told the Daily Star that the embassy would likely need to extend the polling hours 鈥渄ue to the extremely high turnout.鈥� 聽Voters created traffic jams near the polling stations, with drivers parking their cars and walking the rest of the way, according to the Daily Star.聽
Michel Kilo, a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, alleged that the high turnout was partly in response to threats from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant organization that has been fighting in Syria on the regime's behalf. It played a crucial role in the recapture of Homs.聽
鈥淭he Syrians never voted in such intensity before, there are Syrians [who have been] living in Lebanon for a long time and they fear to go to Syria without voting so that the regime would not reprimand them,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e also got information that Hezbollah threatened the Syrians that it would bomb the areas where they are staying if they do not vote."