18 Million Syrians Cast Ballot in  Presidential Election Today

The  Higher Syrian Judiciary Committee that monitors the presidential election announced opening polling stations today, Wednesday, in the areas controlled by the Syrian government.

The Ministry of Interior in Syria has declared that more than 18 million Syrians cast a ballot to elect the president of the country.

Maj. Gen. Mohamed Al –Rahmoun, Syria’s Minister of Interior, indicated during a news conference in Damascus today, Wednesday, that all citizens above 18 years in Syrian have the right to elect notwithstanding depriving of his legal or constitutional rights according to law.

He revealed that 12.102 thousand voting centers will receive voters as of 8 A.M. today.

He added that Syria is one electoral constituency so any citizen has the right to vote in any center across the country.

“SANA” the official  Syrian news agency, said that voters head for the polling stations since the early hours of the morning.

A correspondent of “Russia Today” a Russian news website, said that big numbers of   Syrians thronged in front of voting centers in the universities as the students have started voting there.

On the other hand, Hassan Soliman, Head of the Political Directorate in the Syrian Army, pointed out that servicemen have the right to vote in civilian voting centers.

He affirmed that civilians also have the same right to vote in the military polling stations.

The Judiciary Committee assured that there is a high turnout in the presidential election.

Mokhles Qaysiah, a member of the committee in Damascus, the capital city of Syria, said that all subsidiary voting stations were monitored momentarily to ensure that the voting runs according to the Constitution and Law of the General  Election.

Voting centers close at 7 P.M. if the period of voting doesn’t extend

It is worth noting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Abdullah Salloum Abdullah, a former lawmaker of the Social Party, and Mahmoud Ahmed Marea, General- Secretary of the Democratic Syrian Front, run for the presidential election.

But the two other candidates, who run for this election, represent a symbolic opposition only.