|
 The Syrian president has not yet announced whether he will stand
for a third term, in defiance of protesters, rebel fighters and
Western foes who have demanded he go; but in state-controlled parts
of Damascus preparations for his candidacy are unmistakable.
Public gatherings have become platforms to urge the president to
nominate himself, despite a continuing civil war that has killed
more than 140,000 people, fractured the country and destroyed any
chance of a credible vote being held.
Authorities are once again organizing demonstrations in support of
Assad, accused by opponents of massacres of civilians. Shopkeepers
are encouraged to show their support by painting national colors on
their store fronts.
Some express their loyalty in general displays of patriotism, while
others explicitly call on the 48-year-old president to announce he
will stand in the vote, which is due to be held by July.
Just 18 months ago, Assad's grip over his capital seemed to be
slipping as rebels gained ground around Damascus. Since then his
forces have consolidated control in central Syria. Rebels still
insist his departure is precondition for any peace deal, but having
lost military momentum they are unable to dictate terms.
At a gathering in southern Damascus last month to honor victims of
Syria's conflict, local officials and clerics turned the solemn
memorial into a political rally.
After handing out awards to widows and grieving mothers in Sayida
Zeinab, a suburb of the capital which has been at the heart of
Assad's counter-attack against rebels, they made their case for a
third term of Assad rule.
"The president said: ‘If there is a popular demand for me to be
nominated, I will run. I will not abandon my national duty'," said
Shi'ite Muslim cleric Al Sayyed Fadi Burhan.
"So I ask you to take advantage of this large gathering ... and make
it an opportunity to ask President Bashar al-Assad to nominate
himself for another electoral term."
The crowd, mainly loyalists, cheered.
STREET DEMONSTRATIONS
The scene is repeated across government-controlled districts of the
capital, such as the garrison suburbs where military families live,
many of them from Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of
Shi'ite Islam.
Demonstrators waving portraits of Assad and flags adorned with his
face are once again on the streets, albeit in smaller numbers than
the many thousands who rallied in 2011 when authorities were trying
to counter the mass anti-Assad protests sweeping the country.
Schoolchildren are bused in to take part in marches, much to the
alarm of parents who say they are given no prior notice that their
children are being taken to demonstrate while Syria's civil war
rages on.
"Even though it can be very dangerous, they just put them on a bus
and take them to a march during their last period of the day without
informing us or anything," the mother of an 11-year-old boy said.
"If they inform us, they know that most parents would not send their
kids to school that day."
The mobilization appears aimed at reinforcing the government's
long-standing assertion that Syrian citizens want Assad to stand.
"It is his personal decision ... but I assure you that the Syrian
street will pressure President Bashar al-Assad to nominate himself
for the presidency of the republic," Information Minister Omran
Zoabi said in January.
Amendments to Syria's constitution agreed in a referendum two years
ago mean that, for the first time, rival candidates would be able to
stand against Assad — but only if they win the support of 35 members
of Syria's pro-Assad parliament.
That would at least in theory mark a change from four decades of
presidential votes when the only options Syrians had were to support
or oppose parliament's nomination of Assad and, before him, his
father Hafez al-Assad.
Monzer Akbik, chief of staff to opposition National Coalition leader
Ahmad Jarba, said Syria had not held a real election since Assad's
Baath Party seized power in 1963 and any vote held in current
circumstances "would be a joke".
"If he does want an election, he will make it a theatre — with an
orchestrated opposition," Akbik told Reuters in Turkey. "Any serious
opposition candidate would be immediately killed if they were to go
inside Syria. Who dares run against Assad?"
Jarba's coalition has held two rounds of unsuccessful talks in
Geneva with government negotiators, aimed at resolving the civil
war. The opposition and international mediator say the talks must
address a transitional government — a phrase Assad's opponents
understand to mean that he must go.
But Syrian officials have categorically ruled out that he might
surrender any power.
[to top of second column] |
ELECTION IMPOSSIBLE?
In response to the pro-Assad mobilization, an online campaign to
nominate popular opposition figure Moaz Alkhatib to run against him
was launched last week and quickly snowballed into tens of thousands
of supporters.
Syrians inside besieged rebel areas as well as exiled supporters
from as far away as Australia and Ukraine have posted photos of
themselves with cards backing the former preacher at the Umayyad
Mosque in Damascus.
Alkhatib, currently based in Qatar, welcomed the Internet campaign
but echoed Akbik's objection to holding the vote amid the turmoil of
civil war and under the supervision of Assad's authorities. "We
will not give legitimacy or cover to any elections carried out by
the regime, which aims only to preserve its fast-waning existence,"
he said in a post on his Facebook page.
Holding an election appears impossible while 2.4 million Syrians are
refugees in neighboring countries, many millions more are displaced
within Syria and Assad has lost control of northern and eastern
Syria.
Even in Damascus, few believe the vote will go ahead.
"I heard that elections were going to be postponed another year or
two because of the situation," said Samir, a middle-aged man during
a casual lunch with his in-laws as the conversation turned into
political chitchat.
"The new constitution limits the number of terms to two, which he's
already had, so how can he run again?" said a hairdresser, as she
worked on a client during a home visit.
In one of the rebel-held areas, Mouadamiya, an Assad opponent voiced
a frequently heard sentiment.
"Assad plans to announce his nomination on the eve of elections, and
then of course he'll win because only people in loyalist areas will
be able to vote, and then he'll say: ‘Oh look, the people want me',"
he said.
PATRIOT COLORS
In government-held areas of Damascus, many people are starting to
feel pressure to show support.
Members of Popular Committees — civilians recruited and armed by the
government — have been making their rounds on motorbikes, demanding
shopkeepers paint the Syrian flag on their shutters.
Since the start of Syria's uprising, the flag has become synonymous
with government loyalty. Rebels use a different flag that predates
the current one.
"They told me and other shops on my street to paint the colors of
the flag right away," said one shop owner in the middle class
neighborhood of Rukn al-Din. He was warned that the first offence
would cost him a fine of 5,000 SP ($30).
A second offence would mean imprisonment.
"I painted it the same day. I don't want trouble," he said.
In more upscale neighborhoods like Shaalan, where authorities are
less inclined to issue direct orders to privately owned businesses,
peer pressure is just as effective.
"Two weeks ago I came to work and found my neighbors had painted the
flag overnight," said one shop owner. "So I went ahead and painted
mine. No one dares be the odd one out."
Some of the more bizarre manifestations of support for Assad include
two Hummers, painted with the colors of the flag, that drive around
town sometimes at odd hours blaring loyalist music and followed by
several honking cars.
Young men and women have also embraced a new fashion for military
fatigues and boots, part of the militaristic fervor whipped up by
Assad's supporters.
One woman even dressed up her pet dog, a small Chihuahua, in
military camouflage, much to the distress of people around her who
thought the authorities might take offence.
"Don't worry about it. I've already taken him through several
checkpoints, and they loved him, she said.
(Additional reporting by Dasha Afanasieva in Istanbul;
editing by
Dominic Evans and Ralph Boulton)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
