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Syrian oppositions urge to boycott presidential vote

21 May 2014 23:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Two prominent opposition parties inside Syria have urged the Syrian people to boycott the upcoming presidential election, dismissing the contentious vote as " illegitimate," APA reports quoting Xinhua

The National Coordination Body (NCB) and the Building Syria State party (BSS) have for long declared their objection to the June 3 presidential vote, but their recent stance is to urge the Syrians to boycott the vote as well.

"A campaign has been launched as part of solidarity with Syrians who are deprived of participating in the election. So we dismiss the elections as illegitimate and doesn't represent all the Syrians," BSS' deputy head Anas Joudeh told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.

He pointed out that "the presidential election should be held with the participation of all eligible voters," otherwise "the whole process is illegitimate."

"We need to go back to the spirit of Geneva communique on Syria of 2012, the spirit of the participatory political solution. This solution should start by a ceasefire that could lead to a transitional period, where there should be more political freedom with more parties so that Syrians could really be able to embark on real elections," he said.

Meanwhile, Saleh Nabwani, a NCB member, also mirrored Joudeh's opinion and renewed calls for Syrians to boycott the vote.

He said the election is "unilateral" because they will be held in accordance to a "one-sided" electoral law.

"This election will not lead to a cessation of violence in Syria. So if the solution for the crisis wasn't for the interest of the Syrian people and homeland, the rate of bloodletting and killing will increase," he noted.

Nabwani said that the best solution for the Syrian crisis is by applying the Geneva communique in cooperation between all of the Syrian parties, "otherwise there will be no solution."

Three contenders, including incumbent President Bashar Al Assad, are competing for the top post.

The campaigning for the presidential election officially kicked off last week, marking the first time in the 40-year rule of the Assad family that Syrians are able to witness other candidates other than Assad to run for presidency.

The multi-candidate vote is a result of the 2012 constitution that put an end to Syria's one candidate referendum.

The Syrian crisis started in mid-March 2011 when anti- government protesters took to the streets calling for reforms. But it rapidly evolved into a bloody civil war that has so far killed more than 150,000 people and displaced about a third of Syria's population.