Bashar al-Assad was sworn in as Syria’s President in Damascus for a seven-year term on 16 July 2014. With this he became the President for the third consecutive term. He was re-elected after a presidential election that was held in June 2014.
Assad won 88.7 percent of the votes in the first multi-candidate election that was conducted only in the areas of Syria which were under government control.
After his swearing-in, Assad vowed to fight terrorism until security was restored to all of the country. However, he also promised to offer national reconciliation to opponents.
He has defied calls to step down since an uprising began in March 2011. Since then around 170000 people have been killed and more than nine million people have been forced out from their homes. The displaced people have been either within the country or are as refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries. According to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in Britain, since the election in June 2014, 4743 civilians have been killed.
.jpg){kind=logo}
Comments
All Comments (0)
Join the conversation