Syria rights group urges world to reject presidential vote

A leading Syrian rights group has called on the international community to reject next month’s presidential elections because they will take place under the rule of President Bashar Assad, who is implicated in war crimes

BEIRUT -- A leading Syrian rights group Monday called on the international community to reject next month’s presidential elections because they will take place under the rule of President Bashar Assad, who is implicated in war crimes. Paris-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, describing the elections as a sham, said the vote was scheduled by Assad’s government in violation of a U.N.-charted path toward a political resolution to the decade-old war. According to the 2015 resolution, presidential elections should take place only after drafting a new constitution that allows for a free and competitive vote. “What is the point then of a (U.N.-backed) political track?” said the rights group's director, Fadel Abdul-Ghany. “The regime has totally torpedoed the U.N. Security Council resolution. The world must stress these elections are illegitimate.”