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Other voters pay tribute to President Bashar al-Assad after voting in the Duma, a suburb of Damascus
President Bashar al-Assad (Bashar al-Assad) on Wednesday dismissed criticism of the Syrian presidential election because despite the West’s accusations that it was neither “free nor fair,” voters flocked to polls in government-controlled areas.
After voting with his British-born wife Asma in Douma, a suburb of Damascus, Assad said: “Your opinion has zero value. This is an important stronghold for the rebels until three years. Until it was retaken by government forces.
But as Assad prepares to regain power, they will be powerless.
Huge election posters praising the president have sprung up in two-thirds of the country under his control.
As foreign opponents are forbidden to stand and do not have the right to vote in areas beyond the government’s control, Assad is expected to win by a landslide.
Hundreds of students shouted to vote outside Damascus University.
Around him, students shouted slogans used to express their support for the strongmen in the Arab world: “We sacrifice our lives for you with our blood and soul, Bashar.”
48 hours after the end of the voting, no results are expected before Friday night.
More than 80% of the population lives below the poverty line, and the depreciation of the Syrian pound against the U.S. dollar has caused inflation to soar.
The 55-year-old ophthalmologist Assad is the death of his father Hafez, who ruled Syria for 30 years.
Khatib said: “I don’t know other candidates at all. I respect their nomination, but I will definitely vote for Assad.”
However, on top of a series of decrees aimed at improving economic conditions, he granted amnesty to thousands of prisoners earlier this month.
Thousands of foreign Syrians with the correct paperwork voted in their embassy last week.
Several countries opposed to Assad (including Turkey and Germany) completely blocked the vote, and Turkey and Germany hosted large numbers of refugees in Syria.
In the homes of 3 million people in northwestern Syria controlled by insurgents, opposition radicals spread mock campaign posters mocking Assad.
In the last multi-candidate poll in 2014, Assad took 88% of the vote.
When the war broke out, the Air Force bombed the rebel areas in the second city of Aleppo, and fought fierce fighting in Hama, Idlib and Dala, and the capital Damascus.
A European diplomat said: “Assad risked becoming the only certainty of a country in ruins.”
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