WASHINGTON, June 4: The United States has said the presidential election in Syria is a “disgrace” and its president Bashar al-Assad has lost his credibility which he had before the elections.
Polls for the Syrian presidential elections were held yesterday.
“Today’s presidential election in Syria is a disgrace. Bashar al-Assad has no more credibility today than he did yesterday,” the State Department Deputy Spokesperson, Marie Harf, told reporters at her daily news conference yesterday.
“Elections should be an opportunity for the people of a free society to be consulted and to play an important role in choosing their leaders.
Instead, such a process was inconceivable today in Syria, where the regime continued to reject the courageous calls for freedom and dignity that started more than three years ago,” she said.
“It intentionally denied millions of Syrians the right to vote and continued to massacre the very electorate it purports to represent and protect.
Just today, we also note reports the regime shelled the Yarmouk refugee camp and eastern Ghouta,” Harf said.
“Detached from reality and devoid of political participation, the Assad regime-staged election today continues a 40-year family legacy of violent suppression that brutally crushes political dissent and fails to fulfill Syrians aspirations for peace and prosperity,” she said. (PTI)