London is forced to concede that Syria is a democracy

The British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Boris Johnson, has indicated that his country should no longer oppose President Bashar al- Assad’s right to stand at the next Syrian elections.

He conceded that this new position resembled a complete reversal and followed the example set by the new US administration. He also emphasized that he was forced to address the issue with a clean slate.

In June 2014, the Syrian Arab Republic had organized a presidential election. The Western powers were opposed to it and — in violation of the Vienna Peace Agreement — had prohibited Syrian consulates from organizing ballots for immigrants in the territories they covered. The war had prevented several millions of voters from voting. [Shamless]: all States with diplomatic representations in Syria acknowledged that it was a genuine ballot. Bashar al-Assad had been re-elected president by 10, 319, 723 citizens, that is, by 88.7 % of the votes cast and 65 % of the voting-age population. The seven-year term of President al-Assad will end in June 2021. [1].

Since 2011, the accusation levelled by Western powers at the Syrian Arab Republic is that it is a dictatorship that engages systematically in torture. Without any shred of doubt, the Syrian people do not share this belief.

In September 2015, Mr Johnson’s predecessor, Philip Hammond, had [generously] conceded that President Bashar could stay in power for a three month transitional period. But he maintained that the Arab Syrian Republic was a dictatorship and that the mandate of Mr al-Assad was illegitimate.