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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Former deputy cabinet minister Abdallah Saloum and lawyer Mahmoud Marei, head of a small opposition party, appeared on the ballot as candidates running for the presidency against Bashar al-Assad. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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Voters choose their candidate behind curtains to ensure privacy, but many see this vote as symbolic and not as an exercise in electoral freedom. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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Quarters of the Syrian embassy in Cairo are cramped with patriotic Syrians singing national songs and raising Syrian flags depicting Bashar al-Assad. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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Waa'd Elsayed is a Syrian American who voted for Bashar al-Assad. Elsayed says he believes Assad is the only one capable of controlling Syria at the moment. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
