A story was in circulation during the time of Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez el Assad. “The U.S President (father) G. Bush was running for the second term. To make sure that he wins over his rival he told his advisers to search for the most successful campaign team in the world. It happened that Hafez Assad had recently won the elections of his country by 99,9%. Mr. Bush calls on the newly (but repeatedly) elected Syrian President and requests to borrow his winning team to support him in the upcoming American presidential elections.

Assad’s team began to work for Bush to the best of their ability. In the end votes were counted and a land slide victory was recorded: Mr. Assad had won the American elections by 99,9%.”

Now the same team seems to have worked in war torn Syria to secure an impressive victory for his son Bashar. According to official figures released by the Syrian government, Bassar Assad has won last week’s Syrian presidential elections by an impressive with 88.7 percent majority.

Like his father Bashar Assad had entered single candidate elections in 2000 and 2007 with yes-no options only. But this time, to give the semblance of a democratic process two other “friendly candidates” were included in the ballot.

Syrian officials have declared that voter turnout was 73.4 percent. While B. Assad garnered 88.7 percent, his rivals Hassan al-Nouri won 4,3 percent and Maher Hajjar won 3.2 percent of the votes.
Voting was not possible in northern and eastern Syria that is in rebel hands. So elections could only be held in government-controlled areas besides expatriates. Tens of thousands of Syrians living abroad voted in this election. Many of the nearly 3 million scattered in the Middle East refugees were either excluded by law or stayed away from the ballot box. But these adversities did not prevent the elections. Battles were fought in various places during voting.

By securing his seat, Bashar Assad has accomplished two things: legitimacy to stay in office as an approved leader and capturing another seven-year term despite the fact that a bloody war is waging on in his country.
As expected, the opposition and the rest of the world except Russia and Venezuela denounced the legitimacy of the elections. But the stage was set for a tacit acceptance of the results.

Massive celebrations were organized after the declaration of election results. Celebratory gunfire went on all day in Damascus. Even heavy weaponry went off accompanied by man and women chanting “We sacrifice ourselves for you Bashar with our souls and blood” or “God, Syria, Bashar!”

The same scenes were exhibited in Latakia and the devastated city of Homs that was recaptured by government forces only a few weeks ago. Such jubilant attitude on the part of the government shows that it has no intention of stepping down and it still holds onto a partial public support that opts for the integrity and dreads the rule of radical groups to a traditional dictatorship that keeps the country in one piece.

The civil war has so far treaded a bloody trail that left 160,000 dead and nearly three million refugees behind. It does not seem to lax given the internal and external balance of powers that allow the Syrian administration to go gaining ground with its deadly methods given the fact that fundamentalist groups that have invaded the country portray a more bleak future for the people of the country.

In the reluctance of the West (including the USA) Assad’s allies Iran, Russia and the Lebanese Hezbollah (Shiite militia) have bolstered his armed forces that wrested back some of the ground lost in the first two years of the conflict. However, opposition forces seem to be no less determined to overthrow the Assad regime.
If the balance on the battle ground is not disrupted by the defeat of one of the warring sides, external powers will play the most important role in tipping the balance in favor of one or the other side. Already transformed into a proxy war, the Syrian dilemma will increasingly reflect the divide of the international community, further confounding the future of Syria and the Middle East.

No matter how rigged and unconventional the Syrian elections have been its endorsement by the supporters of the present Syrian administration in the U.N. Security Council and in general will provide protection for Bashar Assad preventing his removal by military means, at least in the near future.