WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st July, 2020) The United States views the parliamentary election in Syria as another "unfree vote" without "real choice," the US Department of State spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
"[Syria's President] Bashar al Assad is seeking to present this dubious election as a success against alleged Western plotting, but in reality it is simply another in a long line of Assad's stage-managed, unfree votes in which the Syrian people have no real choice," Ortagus said on Monday.
On Sunday, Syria held the third legislative election since the beginning of the conflict in the country in 2011. A total of 7,331 voting stations operated during the election for more than 1,600 candidates competing for 250 seats in Syria unicameral legislature.
Ortagus said that the United States has seen "credible" reports of multiple irregularities if favor of ruling party candidates and criticized Damascus for not allowing millions of Syrian refugees abroad to vote - in a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
"Until the Assad regime and its government allow and adhere to these conditions the international community will view these rigged elections for what they are: another attempt by the regime to confer false legitimacy on itself and to avoid implementing the political process that UN Security Council Resolution 2254 requires," Ortagus said.
Syria organizes parliamentary elections every four years. The last vote, which was held in 2016, resulted in an alliance led by the ruling Arab Socialist Baath Party winning 200 out of the 250 seats in the unicameral legislature.
The 2020 election was initially slated for April but was postponed to May 20 due to concerns about the novel coronavirus pandemic. Consequently, the authorities pushed the election date again to July 19.
