Syrians Re-Elects President Assad

In a country ravaged by war since 2011, 14.2 million people went to the polls, a turnout rate of 76.64 percent, according to the parliamentary speaker.

The election went ahead in the two-thirds of the country controlled by the government, and in some Syrian embassy overseas.

It was the second presidential election in the country since the start of the war which has cost over 388,000 lives.

In 2014, Assad obtained 88 percent of the vote, according to the official results.

Assad has dismissed Western accusations that Wednesday’s vote was neither “free nor fair”.

The United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy have condemned the electoral process as “illegitimate”.

AFP