Syria: President Bashar al-Assad returns to power!

-Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

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In an open show of a strong sway over Syrians and perfect rebuke to western backers of Syria’s misguided opposition, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been re-elected in a landslide, on June 05, capturing another seven-year term in the middle of a bloody three-year-old uprising against his rule that has devastated the country.

Syria's parliament speaker, Jihad Lahan, announced the final results, saying Assad garnered 10,319,723 votes, or 88.7%. Laham said Assad's two challengers, Hassan al-Nouri and Maher Hajjar, won a meager 4.3% and 3.2% respectively. The supreme constitutional court put turnout at 73.42%.

For the first time in decades, there were multiple candidates on the ballot. In previous presidential elections, Assad and before him his father, Hafez Assad, were elected in single candidate referendums in which voters cast yes-no ballots.

The government has sought to present this vote as a democratic solution to Syria's three-year conflict, although a win for Assad could anger his opponents abroad and is certain to prolong the war. Much of northern and eastern Syria is in rebel hands, and those in the armed opposition show no signs of relenting in their fight to oust Assad.

The war, which activists say has killed more than 160,000 people, has left the international community deeply divided, with the US and its allies backing the revolt against Assad, who enjoys the support of Russia and Iran. That division persisted in perceptions of the  vote.

The opposition and its western allies, including the United States, have denounced the election as a farce. The win boosts Assad's support base, and provides further evidence that he has no intention of relinquishing power. In Beirut, US Secretary John Kerry sharply criticized the Syrian election, calling it "a great big zero." He said it can't be considered fair "because you can't have an election where millions of your people don't even have an ability to vote." The European Union, as expected, joined the US in condemning the election, saying in a statement that "it cannot be considered as a genuinely democratic vote."

Assad's victory was always a foregone conclusion, despite the presence of two other candidates on the ballot for the first time in decades. Voting was held only in government-controlled areas, excluding huge tracks of northern and eastern Syria that are in rebel hands.

In Damascus, meanwhile, a delegation led by the government's chief international supporters from more than 30 countries, including legislators and dignitaries from Iran, Russia and Venezuela, who toured polling stations said Syria's first multi-candidate presidential election in over four decades was transparent and free, and would pave the way for stability and national agreement. In a final statement read by Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the Iranian parliament's committee on national security, the delegation blamed the US and its allies for "crimes committed against the Syrian people."

After the results were released, Damascus erupted into a thunderous, rolling clap of celebratory gunfire that appeared to include heavy weaponry. On the streets of the capital, men cheered and whistled. Some broke into the familiar pro-Assad chant: "With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Bashar!"

Unlike in Iraq, where Russians played mischief with President Saddam Hussein by causing his removal and brutal assassination by US agents, death, Russians and Chinese have stood with Syrian President Assad. USA could not do much this time.

Now that all strenuous efforts by USA and EU and their pawns, the Syrian opposition, should end their bloody war against Syria and stop causing deaths of Syrians.

Having burned all its fingers, the USA is expected end military and other support for the criminalized and greedy opposition parties trying to destabilize Syria.

Western terrocracies should stop forthwith their regime change projects in Mideast.

Enough is more than enough!