Reuters- Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth term in office with 95.1% of votes.
Assad’s government says the election shows Syria is functioning normally despite the decade-old conflict.
Head of parliament Hammouda Sabbagh announced the result in a news conference on Thursday, saying voter turn out was at around 78%.
“Mr. Bashar Hafez al-Assad gained 13,540,860 votes with a percentage of 95.1% from the total votes,” Sabbagh read a statement.
The election went ahead despite a U.N.-led peace process that had called for voting under international supervision that would help pave the way for a new constitution and a political settlement.
The win delivers Assad seven more years in power and lengthens his family’s rule to nearly six decades. His father Hafez al-Assad led Syria for 30 years until his death in 2000.
“Thank you to all Syrians for their high sense of nationalism and their notable participation.... for the future of Syria's children and its youth let’s start from tomorrow our campaign of work to build hope and build Syria,” Assad wrote on his campaign’s Facebook page.
Rallies with thousands of people waving Syrian flags and holding pictures of Assad while singing and dancing had been taking place all day Thursday in celebration of holding the election ahead of the announcement of the result.
The election that will extend Bashar Assad’s rule over the country, opponents and the West say was marked by fraud.
