Upcoming Syrian presidential elections face popular rejection and boycott

ZALIN and DRUCO, Syria — With the approaching 26 May presidential elections organized by the Syrian regime, voices among the Syrian people in regime territory rejecting the election rise day by day, stressing that the election will do nothing to guarantee the people’s constitutional rights.

On Wednesday morning, posters and banners spread in the city of Jasim in the northern countryside of Druco (Daraa), calling for a boycott of the upcoming presidential elections. The posters bore expressions against the Syrian government, including “Do not vote for the tyrant, do not vote for the killer of Hamza al-Khatib.”

Activists from Druco indicated that the Syrian government may cancel a number of polling stations in the city as a result of the poor security conditions and threats launched against regime forces from Al-Balad in Druco, Tafas, and Busra al-Sham which government forces have not entered despite the settlement agreement in 2018.

In related news, the Syrian Constitutional Party (Hads), the Syrian Democratic Committees (Amarji), the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO), and the Civil Labor Movement issued a statement on the Syrian elections rejecting them and calling for people to boycott them. They stated that the Syrian regime insists on holding presidential elections in the same fraudulent way it has for decades. The regime continues to ignore the rights of the Syrian people and their desire for democratic reforms.