Assad wins presidential election in Syria

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth term in office in the presidential election held in areas under the control of the Damascus government.

Head of parliament Hammouda Sabbagh announced the results in a statement saying that Assad received 95.1 percent of the votes.

Assad was running against two candidates, former deputy Cabinet minister Saloum Abdallah who received 1.5 percent of the vote, and Mahmoud Marei, head of small officially sanctioned opposition party that received 3.3 percent of the vote.

According to the head of parliament, voter turnout was 78 percent with 14.2 million people going to the polls.

The elections were held in areas controlled by the government and in some Syrian embassies abroad.

Presidential elections have been held for the second time since the civil war started in 2011.

In the controversial elections in 2014, Assad received 88 percent of the votes. This is the fourth time he has been elected president in 2000, following a referendum, after his father’s death.

Western governments stated that the elections in Syria were neither free nor fair.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria had refused to participate in the elections.

The Syrian Democratic Council (MSD) boycotted the vote saying there could be no real election without a democratic atmosphere.

“We will not take part in presidential elections”, it said.