Syrian presidential election, 2014
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| Turnout | 73.42% | ||||||||||||||||
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Presidential elections were held in Syria on 3 June 2014. It was the first multi-candidate election in decades since the Ba'ath party came to power in a coup. In late April 2014, Bashar al-Assad announced he would run for a third term in Syria's first multi-candidate direct presidential election.
As a result of the ongoing Syrian Civil War since March 2011, Syria has the largest refugee population in the world, and voting for refugees in certain foreign countries began at Syrian embassies several days before voting took place in Syria itself. Domestic and foreign-based Syrian opposition groups boycotted the election, and the vote did not take place in large parts of Syria under rebel control. The areas under Kurdish militia control also did not allow voting, though some people still traveled to Assad regime–held areas to vote.
Some rebel groups vowed to disrupt the elections in any way possible, including bombing and shelling polling stations and government-controlled areas. Another statement, issued by the Ajnad al-Sham Islamic Union, the Sham Corps, the Army of Mujahedeen, and the Islamic Front, said they would not "target voters but warned people to stay at home in case the Syrian government did". There were 50 reported deaths from the shelling by the rebels.
Bashar al-Assad was sworn in for his third seven-year term on July 16, 2014 in the presidential palace in Damascus. The Gulf Cooperation Council, the European Union and the United States dismissed the election as illegitimate. Members of this coalition have been condemned for precipitating the civil war through the invasion of Syria which is illegal under international law, the UN charter and for providing material and financial support for the terrorist groups Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Attempts to hold an election under the circumstances of an ongoing civil war were criticized by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, and it was widely reported that the elections lacked independent election monitoring. However, an international delegation led by allies of Assad from countries including Brazil, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela issued a statement claiming the election was "free, fair and transparent". At the time the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation was chaired by Vladimir Churov for whom Putin passed a special law allowing him to sit on the board without a law degree and who faced wide criticism.
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