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Syrians vote in referendum as clashes continue
Millions of Syrians voted on a referendum for a new constitution on Sunday amid continuing violence in the country.
Voting in the capital Damascus was extended until 10pm following a late rush, according to Al-Akhbar correspondents in the city.
Syrian state television aired live footage from a number of polling stations around the country and reported that "large number of voters" had turned out.
The new text ends the legal basis for the five-decade stranglehold on power of the ruling Baath party but leaves President Bashar Assad in his position.
The opposition says the changes are entirely cosmetic and has called on its supporters to boycott the poll.
Proponents of the regime argue this is a first step toward a long process of reform.
Elsewhere clashes have continued, with the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying that over 30 people have died.
As polling was under way, a Britain-based watchdog reported new violence around the country that left at least 17 civilians and 16 security force personnel dead.
In the central city of Homs – under attack by regime forces for more than three weeks – shelling resumed of the rebel district of Baba Amr, dashing Red Cross hopes of a lull to allow the evacuation of two wounded Western journalists.
France's Interior Minister Claude Gueant warned it was "medically urgent" to get wounded French reporter Edith Bouvier out of the besieged district.
The Red Cross said the evacuation will most likely take place Monday.
Follow all the updates on our live blog
Al-Akhbar, AFP
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- Tags: syria, Referendum
Comments
There is little doubt that the referendum is a game changer. It is a major event since the the beginning of the armed clashes between the Syrian Army and security forces and the armed groups in Der'a, back in April, 2011 - but it is not the first!
The arrival of the Arab Monitoring team was the first, of which, the most important outcome was the official exposure of the armed gangs - long denied by the very same quarters which buys them arms, train them and provide them with supplies.
This was a surprise not to many, but certainly Arabs who called themselves by adjectives like: 'progressive,' 'leftist,' etc. in Arabic language newspapers, and did who were wed to the vision that the Syrian Army, upon hearing of a peaceful demonstration, rushes its guns, rockets, tanks, and calls in the helicopter gunships, to blast the crowd out of existence.
The West hardly heard of the Monitor Team, apart from derisory references made by the Muslim Brothers 'National Council' and the other more buoyant opposition group - and that, very infrequently, too. As to their Reports, interim and final, well, the Arab League shamelessly hid them, thanks to the indefatigable energy of the Arab League Secretary-General, who invariably behaves more as the Secretary to the Foreign Minister of Qatar than anything else. This person turned deaf ears to the request of some UN Security Council members of copies of the Report.
The observations and the Report was not even a surprise to those who sent the Observer Team - Qatar, the Saudis and a few other bastions of 'democracy' and 'freedom' in the tribal gulf states. They were certain that the Syrian government would reject the mission of the Observer Team, and therefore it was more or less a political gambit which the Syrians seemingly foiled. Some say that Russians earnestly recommended to the Syrians acceptance of the Mission, which they duly did.
The Referendum is difficult to manipulate the way the Monitor Team and its report were. It happened. Many Arab news reporters were there. Many expect the vote to be around 50% of the total population - and if so, it would be close to voting turnout in presidential elections in the USA, and certainly much higher than for congressional or local elections.
Even at ratios below that figure, the conduct of the Referendum in such circumstances suggest two things:
1. The security situation, even in Homs, is not as bad as the 'news warriors' would like to paint in the news organs in the US and Europe - which validates the recent statements of the ICRC or the brave Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society.
2. That there is likely to be disruption of the Referendum by the armed bands, because the Referendum is viewed by them not as a victory of the the Syrian people and a step towards their complete emancipation, but as a vote legitimizing the existing regime. That is, a rejection of a peaceful solution to the crisis.
This may well explain the outburst of the Saudi Prince in Tunis, and his loud and angry condemnation of the meeting of the so-called 'Friends of Syria.' His scream for "Armed removal of the regime" will be remembered by generations, although mostly ones living in the future democratic and free states in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula.
@ ana souri
I completely agree with you that the constitution needs work and the aspects that should be worked on. I don't believe that the people are ready to support having a President with a religion other than Islam. Many are protesting due to the fact that the current President isn't Sunni, imagine what they would have done had Bashar been a Christian. I hope one day that they will be able to realize this and vote for the person they feel is most capable of leading the country, regardless of his faith or ethnicity.
I read the draft and was not very happy with the content. However, i had a vote i would vote for the consitution. It is a step forward, baby step mind you but better than what we had before.
Those who don't vote would also not vote in any other times because they would be "told" not to vote by interest groups like the Moslem Brotherhood. They don't think and this would not change in any future democracy.
Having a new constitution gives Syrians rights that very few Arab nations give to their people. Ask Qataris and Saudis about their constitution, right they don't have any, and never will.
Syria has always led the way and will again lead the way for sleeping arabs in other countries who will wish they can do the same.
My problems with the constitution is the 7 yr term, too, long. Religious affiliation with the president, should be removed, and most brazen, that this is a arab nation.
Syria must move towards its true history which includes arabs, kurds, armenians, and many other groups who have sought and received protection in this land. Syria can't limit itself to its arab history, its history spans centuries before the arabs became a majority in this land.
This should be the Republic of Syria.
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