Monday, May 7, 2012

Syria: Unvoting with their feet

An article about Syria's recent parliamentary elections as reported by Agence France press via Annahar, Lebanon's daily described turnout across Syria:

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/39354-7-killed-as-syria-holds-election-snubbed-by-opposition

It is interesting to compare and contrast the Syrian election under its new constitution with that of Iraq's a few years ago. The recent Syrian election does not seem to have appealed to large swathes of the population; and apparently several populated cities witnessing clampdown barely saw any voting. This stands in stark contrast to Iraq's which saw millions still show up to vote- notwithstanding the sectarian violence and the American occupation occuring at the time.

The conclusion to be drawn is that it seems while regimes may force people into submission, they are still incapable of forcing them to vote for something they deem unfair and illegitimate.

People can unvote with their feet after all ...

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