Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Media and Communications
April 18, 2021
The Assad regime announced it would proceed with its plans for holding the farcical elections in May. This travesty of elections will not have any legal, political, or legitimate value whatsoever.
The international community is primarily responsible for the Assad regime’s insistence on refusing political solution. The regime does not find itself obliged to make any changes to its agenda or plans in view of the absence of the required pressure and the failure of international community to take serious positions in support of political solution.
The so-called elections that the Assad regime and its allies are planning will be a total farce as the regime has the worst record in human rights and sits at the bottom of the world’s freedom index. Indeed, Syria has not seen any fair, democratic elections since the Baath Party seized power in a military coup in 1963.
It behooves the international community to take measures to put an end to the Assad regime’s obstructionism and force it to engage in a real political solution in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and through a transitional governing body that enjoys full executive powers.
The only acceptable election in Syria is the one in which the war criminal Bashar al-Assad will not participate. Rather, elections must be fully consistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2254 so as to create the appropriate, safe atmosphere for conducting pluralistic elections and ensure integrity and transparency of the process under international supervision with the participation of all Syrians abroad and at home.