Syria is scheduled to hold presidential elections on May 26, with President Bashar al-Assad running for a fourth term of seven years. Assad faces two candidates, but many Syrians both inside the country and abroad see the vote as largely symbolic. Syrian embassies overseas started taking votes last week. Photojournalist Hamada Elrasam caught up with voters outside Syria’s embassy in Cairo, where he says people sang and danced as they prepared to cast their ballots, but notes the turnout numbers reflect a tiny percentage of the more than half-a-million Syrians living in Egypt.
Syria Holds Presidential Elections that Many See as Symbolic
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In downtown Cairo, the Syrian embassy became a makeshift polling station. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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Workers at the embassy opened the doors for voters early in the morning, and kept them open until midnight, in hopes of drawing large numbers. Observers say the turnout so far has reflected a tiny percentage of Egypt’s Syrian population. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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Voters line up to register and cast ballots inside the Syrian embassy in Cairo, Egypt. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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Bashar al-Assad, who inherited the presidency of Syria from his father and has extended it by changing the constitution, is now running against two obscure figures. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
