GOOD ELECTIONS & BEST OF ALL LIES

21-4-2014 – MESOP – Homs Governor Says Syria Ready for “Good Elections:” Talal al-Barazi, governor of Homs, declared that the city is ready for “relatively good elections.”

Over 220,000 people from the province of Homs have fled to neighboring Lebanon since the start of Syria’s civil war. Anne Barnard said that al-Barazi’s optimism is being shared at the “highest levels in Damascus,” where Syrian officials have declared that a presidential vote will be held within three months. The officials expect President Bashar al-Assad to win even though, “for the first time in decades, there will in theory be an opponent on the ballot.”  The elections are expected to be held in June, before Assad’s seven-year term expires on July 17.