Syria

Iran delegation in Syria to monitor election

365335_Syria-ElectionAn Iranian parliamentary delegation has arrived in Damascus to observe the presidential election in the country.

Iranian parliamentarians, led by Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran’s Majlis Alaeddin Boroujerdi, arrived in the Syrian capital on Tuesday morning to monitor the important presidential poll in the country.

Upon his arrival in Damascus, Boroujerdi said the Iranian lawmakers were divided into two groups to visit the polling stations in Damascus as well as the city of Aleppo in northwestern Syria.

The senior Iranian legislator further said Syrians will decide the fate of their home country through this election. “The Islamic Republic of Iran respects whatever decision the Syrian people make.”

During the visit, the Iranian legislators are accompanied by parliamentary delegations from other countries, including the Philippines, Bolivia, Venezuela, Tajikistan, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

Eligible voters in Syria are heading to the polls to elect a president despite the foreign-backed militancy that has reportedly killed over 160,000 people since it erupted in the country in March 2011.

Incumbent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is facing Maher Abdel Hafiz Hajjar, a lawmaker from Aleppo, as well as Hassan Abdallah al-Nuri, a legislator from Damascus, in the presidential race.

The poll is being held in the government-controlled parts of the country.

On May 28, Syrian citizens living abroad went to the polls at the Syrian embassies in a number of countries including the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, Yemen, China, Lebanon, Malaysia, Venezuela, Jordan, Sudan, Oman, the Czech Republic, Belarus and India. The voter turnout was reportedly 95 percent.

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