Opposition is necessary for true vote
Bashar al-Assad, president of Syria, said he is open to a new presidential election. However, he has also stated that he will only agree to the election once the rebels have been crushed.
Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been involved in these discussions to end Syria’s ongoing civil war, which has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced many more, according to the Guardian.
We The Threefold Advocate believe that the a Syrian election, in order to be fair, must be held while the rebels still have some power. Without power, there will be little significance to the rebels’ opposition against Assad. This will make the election pointless since no one will be running against the current president.
In the last election, many regions and certain people groups were excluded from the vote, causing the United States and others nations to condemn the election as illegitimate, according to Reuters.
We The Threefold believe that it is necessary to have an election when there is still opposition to Assad, for the election will be seen as legitimate.
One-sided elections are generally just for show and do not make a change. We The Threefold understand that some people may think that an election is a step in the right direction. However, if there is no significant opposition, the election would be absolutely meaningless because Assad would win without question. Without significant opposition, the election would merely be a show of false democracy.
The country needs to have a fair election. We The Threefold understand that Syria wants to get rid of the true terrorists prior to the election. However, not every armed member of the militia is a terrorist.
One member of the militia, Saoud, is a former Syrian army officer who defected and now leads the rebel 13th division group. “What we care about is Assad leaving, not turning this from a war against the regime to a war against terrorism,” he said to the Guardian.
Therefore, Syria should only focus on getting rid of the terrorists prior to the election rather than removing all the rebel forces from power. This is both unrealistic and unfair.