Dr. Bassam Abu Abdallah to ST: Presidential elections ‘first step to stability in Syria’

Syria gears up for presidential elections amid successive victories being notched up by army units against foreign-backed terrorist groups on several fronts and the US-led bids to hamper and play down the decision of the majority of the Syrian people to elect their leader under national sovereignty.

The Syriatimes e-newspaper conducted an interview with political analyst Dr. Bassam Abu Abdallah, Director of Damascus Center for Strategic Studies, to shed light on the repercussions of holding the presidential elections on time and Syria’s international and regional relations after the elections.

New democratic system

Dr. Abu Abdallah sees that the 2014 presidential elections will lead to stability in the country which is building a new democratic and multi-party system for the Syrian people and not for the US, UK or France peoples.

“Stability can be realized through constitution, multi-party system and dialogue and it can not be realized through al-Nusra Front or the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. In addition, democracy doesn’t mean to be an agent to the US; Democracy is a system and not a model, he said.

“The new system requires changing the Syrian people’s mentality and producing new culture as regards political attitudes towards opposition and presidential candidates, Dr. Abu Abdallah added, noting that it is a matter of time.

Majority of Syrians to vote for president al-Assad

“The west is angry because 24 candidates have submitted applications to run for the office of President. Actually, the Syrian people try to experience the new political life, but it is not the fault of president Bashar al-Assad if the majority of Syrian people votes for him. He is a well known figure at international arena; he defended his country; and he is a strong leader,” Dr. Abu Abdallah said.

“I will vote for President Bashar al-Assad with his program. Nobody can ignore that President al-Assad is a symbol of resistance. He has not left his country and he lives like any other citizen. He can lead the Syrian Army in fighting terrorism. He taught a lot of lessons in the past three years. Because of that we will vote for him for a new seven-year term,” he stressed.

The 2014 presidential elections are just a first step and there might be another mythology of candidacy in the next elections, but the candidates are not puppets.

Even if Syria has the best constitution, the west will play it down. So, we should not listen to it as long as we are doing that for the sake of our people.

US intervention

Dr. Abu Abdallah underscored that the public opinion in Syria wants to see an end for terrorism and to re-enjoy stability through real political life and not through getting support from the US or from Saudi Arabia and Qatar that have no constitution.

The US tried in the Geneva II talks to have their puppets [Coalition opposition] inside the political system in Syria in order to turn the country into a puppet state where it [US] can decide who will be the Prime Minister, who will be ministers….etc.  

Syria is a sovereign state and it will never ever accept foreign intervention in its internal affairs, including the presidential elections. “To accept intervention in presidential elections means to send the results of elections to the Congress in order to say Ok if the results are good for the US policy,” Dr. Abu Abdallah said.

He considers the win of president Bashar al-Assad in the forthcoming elections as a blow to those who sponsor the war on Syria.

On the other hand, Dr. Abu Abdallah connected between the Syrian Arab army’s achievements on the ground and what is happening on the political front, confirming the failure of the terrorist group’s masters to isolate Aleppo province and to convince the Syrian people that they are worried about them.

Exploitation of Humanitarian issue

“The humanitarian issue is being used by some countries for political gains. They want camps in Jordan and Turkey as theaters to show that the Syrian people are suffering,” he said, adding that nobody has talked about the fact that 80% of humanitarian aid is being supported by the government of Syria.

In this context, Dr. Abu Abdallah asked the following questions: Why did the Geneva II talks focus only on Homs old city? Why was this topic discussed by the UN Security Council?

“The answer is that there are some intelligent officers from European countries in the old city of Homs, according to different media sources. This proves the involvement of foreign intelligences in what is going on in Syria.”

Homs is a symbol for what they called ‘revolution’ and it has a strategic position as it’s located in the center of Syria. So, the restoration of stability and security to it is strategic victory.

New diplomatic channels

Dr. Abu Abdallah affirmed the collapse of the foreign-hatched conspiracy on Syria, stressing that the US will continue using its tools to reach a comprehensive settlement not only with Syria but also with Iran and Hezbollah.

He expects that new diplomatic channels will be opened after the presidential elections due to shifts at regional and international levels.

Interviewed by: Basma Qaddour & Ibrahim Zaaboub