Ankara Calls Upcoming Presidential Election In Syria Illegitimate

Sumaira FH Published April 23, 2021 | 02:10 PM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd April, 2021) Ankara believes that the upcoming presidential election in Syria slated for late May will be illegitimate, given the fact that millions of Syrian refugees outside the country will be deprived of their voting rights, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said on Friday.

"The presidential elections announced by the Syrian regime to be held on 26 May 2021 are incompatible with the criteria of the road map put forward by the UNSC Resolution 2254. The elections, depriving almost 7 million Syrians in diaspora of the suffrage, which are far from being free and fair, cannot be considered as legitimate by the international community," Bilgic told reporters.

Syrian Parliament Speaker Hammouda Sabbagh said on Wednesday that President Bashar Assad had put forward his candidacy for the presidential election.

Meanwhile, Western countries have said on multiple occasions that they will not recognize the election if it does not follow United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, which states that the UNSC supports free and fair elections, pursuant to the new constitution and held under UN supervision.