2 candidates to run against Assad in Syrian’s presidential elections

Damascus, 3 May (EFE).- Syria’s Supreme Constitutional Court on Monday confirmed just three of 51 candidates who put their names forward for upcoming presidential elections.

The incumbent leader Bashar Al Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, is almost certain to win the elections scheduled for 26 May.

Two other candidates will challenge Assad; former deputy minister for parliamentary affairs Abdullah Saloum Abdullah, and the opposition leader Mahmoud Marari, the head of the court, Jihad al-Laham, told a press conference.

The rest of the candidates have been ruled out for not “complying with constitutional and legal requirements,” although they can appeal the decision within three days starting tomorrow, he added.

However, no last-minute changes are expected to be introduced to the list.

Assad got 88.7% of the vote in the 2014 election, the first multi-candidate vote in five decades after constitutional amendments introduced in the wake of the protests that broke out in 2011.

Syria has been the scene of a brutal civil war that since 2011 has forced millions to abandon their homes and country.

At least 400,000 people have been killed in the violence, according to United Nations estimates.EFE

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