Iranian Lawmakers Meet President Assad after Victory in Election

Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi in a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Thursday discussed bilateral ties, regional developments and the recent presidential election in the country.
During the meeting, Boroujerdi underlined the necessity of formation of a joint committee to rebuild Syria.

He congratulated President Assad on his landslide victory and reelection to the post.

Boroujerdi arrived in Syria at the head of a large delegation of Iranian and foreign lawmakers to monitor the Presidential vote on Tuesday.

Parliamentary delegations from 30 states were in Tehran on Sunday to discuss the situation in Syria in the 2nd Friends of Syria conference.

Some of the delegations flew along with Boroujerdi and the Iranian lawmakers to Syria to monitor the delegation. The foreign delegations approved election standards after monitoring the vote in several cities on Tuesday.

Assad won the recent presidential elections held on June 3 with 88.7 percent of votes.

President al-Assad, for his part, reaffirmed commitment to the outcome of the election.

“From now on the Western supporters of terrorist groups will gradually lose their power in Syria,” President Assad said.

He hailed national turnout for the election despite efforts by certain governments to hamper the sound and successful course of the voting.

President Assad congratulated the Syrian nation on the healthy and successful national election and appreciated their massive turnout.

On Thursday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in a telephone conversation with his Syrian counterpart congratulated the massive participation of the Syrian nation in the country’s presidential election and reelection of President Bashar Al-Assad.

“This victory will certainly disappoint the Zionists and will also result in restoration of tranquility and security in Syria,” Larijani said during the phone conversation.

On Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, praised the Syrian nation’s massive participation in the presidential election, and called on the world states and international bodies to respect the results of the Tuesday election.

The statement praised the high turnout in the polls as a “big achievement”, saying the Syrian government made good preparations for holding the June 3 election despite difficulties caused by certain foreign sides.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran extends full support for the holding of the presidential election in Syria and backs its results,” the statement added.

“Undoubtedly, this election, which was held with a competitive approach and within the framework of democratic components, heralds a new stage of stability and national reconciliation in the country,” the statement added.

The ministry expressed hope the democratic trend would improve national reconciliation to serve the Syrian people’s interests, put an end to the country’s crisis and restore peace and tranquility.

Syrian citizens flocked to the polling stations on Tuesday to elect a president for the country for the next seven years.

Polling centers opened at 07:00 Tuesday morning for Syrian citizens across the country to cast their ballots in the presidential elections.

The presidential vote was the first pluralistic election in Syria which took place on the basis of the country’s new Constitution endorsed in 2012.

A total number of 11,776 ballot boxes in 9601 polling stations were arranged throughout the country.

Syrian expatriates cast their votes at the country’s embassies and missions abroad last Wednesday, showing a massive turnout that even shocked the western media.

Voting for the Syrian expatriates in neighboring Lebanon was extended for an additional day due to an unprecedented turnout.

The French and Belgian governments prevented the Syrian communities from exercising their constitutional right to vote in the presidential elections on the French and Belgian territories.

Italy, the US, Canada, Germany, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia also followed suit and did not allow the Syrian expatriates to take part in the election.

There were three candidates in Syria’s presidential election, namely incumbent President Bashar al-Assad and Maher Abdel Hafiz Hajjar and Hassan Abdallah al-Nuri.

According to the Syrian Interior Ministry officials, nearly 16 million Syrians were eligible to vote in the poll.