Syrian rights group asks people to unite in boycotting presidential elections

A major rights group in Syria urges people to come together and boycott the upcoming presidential elections in Syria. The group has sought support from the international community so that the presidential election scheduled for next month is stopped. 

The movement has been called in order to reject the rule of current leader President Bashar Assad, who is known for carrying out several war crimes. One of the human rights networks based out of Paris has called these elections nothing more than a sham. The network also stressed that the whole practice is controlled by Assad and his government and such procedures will only violate an UNcharted path for a political solution in the war-torn country. 

A resolution was drafted in 2015 which clearly pointed out that the new elections should only be held after the formation of a new constitution that guarantees free and competitive voting. Fadel Abdul Ghany stressed that there is no point on the UN’s political track. “The regime has totally torpedoed the U.N. Security Council resolution. The world must stress these elections are illegitimate,” he stressed.

The country got into a civil war a decade ago and this election, if executed, will be the second time since then that the country is witnessing the democratic practice. As per the current announcements, the elections are scheduled to be held on May 26 and for those abroad, voting will begin on May 20. 

Apart from that, the rights groups also highlighted that Assan was indeed involved in war crimes. The organization stressed that he along with other people in power has committed many crimes against citizens and also used chemical weapons on more than one occasion.

However, the government has denied these claims. These claims have been supported by the findings of the United Nations and they have proved that war crimes did take place. The Assad government has never justified the mysterious killings of thousands of people. 

The UN has been restricted to only warnings and is unable to take any strong action as two veto yielding nations are continuously showering their support to the Syrian President and his government. Iran is another such nation that supports the Syrian leadership and hence often speaks against the UN interfering in the region. 

The brutality of the Syrian government can be brought to light after the latest figures showed that since Assad came to power in 2014, nearly 48,000 Syrian civilians have been killed along with 8,000 children. But still, Assad has a stronghold on the country. Abdul Ghanu also explained that despite Assad being torturous, there is not a single candidate who could be considered as a real competition.