Syria's voters hark back to the good old, bad old days
It is with some reluctance that I write about the presidential election in Syria today, because the mere act of doing do might lend the occasion an air of legitimacy it does not merit.
The government claims 15 million people – or 68 per cent of the population – are eligible to vote in 9,000 polling stations. However, the ballot boxes are only in government-controlled areas, with opposition figures in exile banned from running. Opposition groups inside Syria are boycotting the event.
That said, there are two opposition candidates, but so insignifcant are they that their names escape me – as they will millions of Syrians, especially those who are internally displaced or refugees, their old lives thrown to the four winds.
There have been many such elections before. President Hafez al-Assad never scored less than 99 per cent, while his son, Bashar, polled 97.6 per cent seven years ago.
If Bashar really was so very popular back then, why did his regime experience rebellion in 2011?
However, the sad fact is that those undemocratic election certainties of yesteryear might well appeal more to millions of Syrians now than the chaos they have known since.
For today’s election is an exercise in nostalgia. If there is a high turnout, it is surely an exhausted electorate voting for the distant memory of peace. The dividend from the Assads’ dictatorships was knowing what would happen from one day to the next; today’s voters may know all about the barrel bombs and the chemical weapons dispatched since, but still vote for the man who sent them – in the name of a long since vanished order.
Talking to western diplomats who focus on Syria, I am struck by their own version of despair: the military balance has undoubtedly shifted in the regime’s favour, and yet with no side capable of outright victory, the country faces the very real prospect of conflict for years to come.
Today’s sham election will no doubt be used by Assad to shore up his internal credibility. The sad truth is that millions do indeed mourn the loss of the regime they once knew – the good old, bad old days.
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