Stephen Lendman

A separate article said they shame America’s sham process. Syrians decide who’ll govern. US voters have no say whatever.

State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner criticized Syria’s constitutionally required April 13 general elections irresponsibly - turning truth on its head, calling them “not legitimate in the sense that they don’t represent…the will of the Syrian people” - an utter perversion of truth. French President Francois Hollande called Thursday’s elections “provocative (and) totally unrealistic.”

A UK regime statement called legitimate Syrian elections shaming Britain’s sham process “divorced from reality,” adding they “cannot buy back legitimacy by putting up a flimsy facade of democracy.”

Other critics denounced what they called rubber-stamp governance serving Assad, undermining peace talks going nowhere - ignoring overwhelming popular support for Ba’ath Party and coalition partner candidates.

Assad and his wife Alma voted on Wednesday at the Assad Library in Damascus. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said “(w)e in Syria always say that the Syrian people decide their destiny and today they are proving practically the accuracy of this saying.”

General elections are constitutionally required quadrennially. Presidents serve seven-year terms. They’re independent of US/Saudi manipulated sham peace talks.

Russia endorsed Syria’s elections, calling them a way to prevent “a legal vacuum.” Sergey Lavrov said “they ensure the activity (of legitimate governance under) the current constitution of the country.”

He dismissed opposition elements against the general elections, saying all parties, including Syrian Kurds, should work on reaching conflict resolution.

His spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, called Thursday’s elections a “major factor of stabilization in the country.”

Syrian media reported high early turnout. Security is understandably tight, given the threat of terrorist attacks.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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