US, European countries reject Syria election results in advance

Western members of the UN Security Council, led by the United States, France and Britain, reject the outcome of Syria’s May 26 presidential election in advance, a position denounced by Russia as “unacceptable.”

“The failure to enact a new constitution is proof positive that the so-called election on May 26 will be a sham,” US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield says during a monthly session of the Security Council on Syria.

The regime of President Bashar Assad — projected to win the vote under the current circumstances — “must take steps to enable the participation of refugees, internally displaced persons, and the diaspora in any Syrian elections. Until then, we will not be fooled,” she says.

“France will not recognize any validity to the elections planned by the regime at the end of May,” says the French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Riviere.

“Elections that take place in the absence of a safe and neutral environment, in an ongoing climate of fear, when millions of Syrians depend on humanitarian aid… do not confer political legitimacy, but instead demonstrate disregard for the Syrian people,” British diplomat Sonia Farrey says.

Their Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, whose country is a strong supporter of Damascus, calls the idea that some nations have already rejected the results “distressing.” He denounces “unacceptable interference in Syria’s internal affairs.”