خبرگزاری جمهوری عربی سوریه Syrian Arab News Agency
Damascus, (SANA) – Foreign and Expatriates Ministry on Thursday sent two identical letters to Chairman of the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary-General on the presidential elections which have been held recently in Syria.
The ministry stressed in the letters that the presidential elections were held on June 3, 2014 based on the constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic and on the belief of the Syrians in the unity of their homeland and determination to defend its independence.
For the first time in Syria’s history, these elections were held with a number of presidential candidates and in an atmosphere of competitiveness, equality and freedom pursuant to the law, the ministry added.
The presidential elections were held in presence of representatives from many countries, parliaments and non-governmental organizations with over 200 media outlets from various countries of the world and under the supervision of a judicial committee with subcommittees deployed in every Syrian province.
“These elections were held on their constitutional time and in all Syrian provinces and outside Syria in an atmosphere of democracy, transparency and with huge popular turnout that exceeded all expectations as the records of the Syrian state show that 15,845,575 people had the right to vote and the number of people who voted inside and outside Syria is 11,634,412 with a percentage of 73.42% while the invalid ballots reached 442,108 with a percentage of 3.8%. Dr. Bashar al-Assad got 10,319,723 votes with a percentage of 88.7%. Dr. Hassan Abdullah al-Nouri got 500,279 votes with a percentage of 4.3% and Mr. Maher Abdul-Hafiz Hajjar got 372,301 votes with a percentage of 3.2%,” the ministry added.
Mr. al-Nouri and Mar. Hajjar declared in two separate statements that they accept the results of the elections and they respect the decision of the Syrian people and they stressed that the elections were held in a just and correct way.
The ministry pointed out that the terrorist organizations and so-called “moderate armed opposition” threatened to bombard the election centers with thousands of rockets and mortar shells, but the Syrian people insisted to go in millions to these elections and confront all difficulties.
The ministry noted that some countries, instead of encouraging and supporting this historic event, waged a war against these elections in contrary to any democratic conceptions or values and far from the principles of human rights and freedom of expression as to distort the true image of the Syrian people’s civilization.
All pretexts circulated by some countries against these elections have failed as the elections were held in all Syria and the percentage of Syrians who participated in them exceeded the numbers who those who took part in the elections of those countries, the ministry said.
“The great Syrian people proved in these elections loyalty to the homeland and commitment to their rights as it is time for the countries which are involved in bloodshed in Syria to stop arming and funding terrorism and acknowledge the right of the Syrians to live in peace and security,” the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry concluded.
F.Allafi