Assad Reaffirms Firm Stance on Staying in Power, Candidacy for 2014 Election

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in a meeting with a popular delegation from Jordan, underlined that he will not step down from presidency and will also nominate for the next presidential election in 2014.

“Under no conditions will I relinquish power and I, as a Syrian citizen, reserve the right for myself to nominate in 2014 presidential election,” President Assad said in his two-hour-long meeting with the Jordanian delegation in Damascus last week.

During the meeting, the Syrian president called the Jordanian nation’s stance on the Syrian crisis praiseworthy and hailed them for their support from the Syrian people in their war against the terrorist al-Nusra Salafi group, the Arabic-language al-Quds al-Arabi reported.

The Jordanian activists, who attended the meeting, said President Assad underlined that the ballot boxes would judge him and his future rivals in the upcoming 2014 presidential election.

“They say that I should leave the country or I should not nominate (myself) for the election, I will not do this and I consider it as my right to nominate for the election and if I will not nominate I will not leave Damascus,” the Syrian president added.

Last month, Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil, who is also an opposition figure, called for all-out respect for the law, and said no one can prevent President Bashar al-Assad’s nomination in the 2014 elections as no article or paragraph in the Syrian law has banned candidacy of Assad or any other figure in the presidential election.

“According to the laws, Assad’s remaining in power until the end of his presidential term is legal,” Jamil told FNA, and added, “The presidential election will be held in mid 2014 and the transition of power will be carried out in due time.”

He further rejected some recent allegations that Assad’s nomination in the upcoming presidential election would be illegal, and said, “There is no paragraph to ban Assad’s candidacy in the next round of presidential election in the country as there is no paragraph to ban the candidacy of any other person in the election either.”

After some western states alleged that the UN-brokered agreement in Geneva in late 2012 has called for Assad’s ouster to start a transition of power in the country, Russia rejected the allegations and underlined that Assad should continue his term until the end of his tenure.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also stressed earlier this month that Moscow believes that President al-Assad’s exit cannot be a precondition for a deal to resolve the country’s crisis.

“Our partners are convinced that President Bashar al-Assad’s exit is essential as a precondition. This is a precondition, which is not mentioned in the Geneva Communiqué and cannot be fulfilled, because this does not depend on anyone,” Lavrov said.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

The US and its western and regional allies have long sought to topple Assad and his ruling system. Media reports said that the Syrian rebels and terrorist groups have received significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, a crime paid for by the Persian Gulf Arab states and coordinated by the United States.

The US daily, Washington Post, reported in May that the Syrian rebels and terrorist groups battling the President Bashar al-Assad’s government have received significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, a crime paid for by the Persian Gulf Arab states and coordinated by the United States.

The newspaper, quoting opposition activists and US and foreign officials, reported that Obama administration officials emphasized the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the Persian Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure.

Opposition activists who several months ago said the rebels were running out of ammunition said in May that the flow of weapons – most bought on the black market in neighboring countries or from elements of the Syrian military in the past – has significantly increased after a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar.