Tribes in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor reject presidential elections
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – Tribal figures in Deir ez-Zor, east Syria, believe that the results of the Syrian presidential elections scheduled to take place on Wednesday are rejected because they are held according to the same method, which they described as a “performance.”
Two candidates, former Minister of State Abdullah Salloum Abdullah and lawyer Mahmoud Ahmed Merei, are running elections alongside President Bashar Assad.
Most Syrians believe that Assad, who has been in power for more than 21 years, is not facing any serious competition for election.
“Syrian presidential elections are a poorly acted and directed play, regardless of which stuntmen are participating; everyone knows its truth,” Salah al-Salman, a tribal figure of the Abu Hardan clan in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, told North Press.
Residents in the government-held areas are forced to vote for Bashar Assad, and international courts must hold Damascus government responsible “because his false elections are carried out on the bodies of women and children who died as a result of his brutality,” al-Salman added.
Al-Salman described the current president as “Chemical Bashar” and added that the clans of Deir ez-Zor reject the electoral results because they already know the performance and the inevitable victory of Bashar Assad, like in previous years; otherwise, elections would have been carried out in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
In April, the official spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said that the upcoming presidential elections in Syria are not a part of the political process stipulated in UN Resolution 2254.
Taking part in this “artificial play” is “a betrayal of the martyrs’ blood and the land,” tribal figure from al-Marashdah clan in Deir ez-Zor Saleh al-Ali told North Press.
“We will not participate, as we call on all Syrian clans to boycott the illegitimate presidential elections,” al-Ali said.
On Monday, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) said in a statement that it is not concerned with any elections that “do not fulfill the goals of the Syrians, their rights and political presence.”
“There will be no elections before the political solution in accordance with the international resolutions, the release of detainees, the return of the displaced, and establishment of new foundations for a political structure free of tyranny,” the statement added.
“Assad has lost his legitimacy since the eruption of the Syrian revolution in 2011, and his regime is still alive due Iranian and Russian support,” Dawood al-Kassar, a tribal figure of al-Marasmah clan in Baghouz town, said.
Al-Kassar called on all people of the Euphrates region’s clans not to participate in the elections, which he described as a “farce.”