VZCZCXYZ0019
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDMA #0381 1131103
ZNR UUUUU ZZH ZUI RUEWMCF7730 1131052
P 231103Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC0000
INFO ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
ZEN/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000381 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR WALLER, LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM SY
SUBJECT: LOW TURNOUT, APATHY IN SYRIAN PARLIAMENTARY 
ELECTIONS 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  VISITS BY U.S. AND OTHER DIPLOMATIC 
OBSERVERS TO POLLING PLACES IN THE SYRIAN CAPITAL AND SMALL 
SURROUNDING CITIES SUGGESTED LOW VOTER TURNOUT DURING THE 
APRIL 22-23 ELECTIONS FOR SYRIA'S 250-MEMBER PEOPLE'S 
ASSEMBLY.  OFFICIAL SYRIAN NEWS OUTLETS, HOWEVER, CLAIMED 
THAT MORE THAN 7.6 MILLION VOTING CARDS HAD BEEN ISSUED TO 
SYRIANS AND THAT VOTER TURNOUT HAD BEEN HIGH.  BY ALL 
REPORTS, THE ATMOSPHERE AT POLLING PLACES WAS CALM, WITH NO 
INDICATIONS OF VOTER INTIMIDATION AND ONLY ONE REPORT OF THE 
BUSSING OF VOTERS.  POST CANNOT CONFIRM WIDESPREAD ANECDOTAL 
REPORTS CLAIMING THAT VOTE-BUYING OCCURRED.  ALL PARTIES IN 
THE SYRIAN OPPOSITION BOYCOTTED THE ELECTIONS, INCLUDING ONE 
KURDISH PARTY THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY INDICATED IT WOULD FIELD A 
FULL SLATE OF CANDIDATES.  ELECTION RESULTS ARE EXPECTED BY 
THE END OF THE WEEK, ACCORDING TO PRESS REPORTS.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) VISITS BY U.S. AND OTHER DIPLOMATIC OBSERVERS TO 
POLLING PLACES IN THE SYRIAN CAPITAL AND SMALL SURROUNDING 
CITIES SUGGESTED LOW VOTER TURNOUT DURING THE 1.5-DAY 
BALLOTING FOR THE PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY.  TURNOUT WAS ARGUABLY 
SOMEWHAT HIGHER ON THE SECOND DAY OF VOTING BUT STILL 
APPEARED LIGHT, ACCORDING TO ANECDOTAL OBSERVER REPORTS. 
(NOTE:  U.S. DIPLOMATS WHO DID NOT HAVE OFFICIAL PERMISSION 
TO MONITOR THE BALLOTING OBSERVED FROM OUTSIDE THE POLLING 
PLACES.  END NOTE)  AT MANY STATIONS, CANDIDATE-SPONSORED 
MONITORS APPEARED TO OUTNUMBER VOTERS, ACCORDING TO OBSERVERS 
FROM THE U.S., AND OTHER DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS.  A SYRIAN 
EMPLOYEE OF THE U.S. EMBASSY, WHO ENTERED FOUR DAMASCUS 
POLLING PLACES THE MORNING OF APRIL 22, DISCOVERED THAT ONLY 
70 PERSONS HAD VOTED THERE IN THE FIRST FIVE HOURS, EVEN 
THOUGH EACH STATION WAS SET UP TO ACCOMMODATE 1,000 VOTERS. 
THE SAME EMPLOYEE VOTED ON APRIL 23 AT A POLLING PLACE IN A 
CONGESTED DOWNTOWN DAMASCUS NEIGHBORHOOD, OBSERVING THERE 
THAT MORE THAN 2,500 VOTERS HAD CAST BALLOTS, INDICATING 
HIGHER TURNOUT IN SOME SELECT LOCATIONS. 
 
¶3.  (U) OFFICIAL SYRIAN NEWS OUTLETS CLAIMED OVERALL HIGH 
VOTER TURNOUT.  FOR EXAMPLE, A NEWS STORY BY THE SYRIAN ARAB 
NEWS AGENCY (SANA) REPORTED IN ITS LEAD:  "CITIZENS 
THROUGHOUT ALL SYRIAN CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES FLOCKED TO 
THE POLLING STATIONS TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT TO ELECT THEIR 
REPRESENTATIVES TO THE 9TH LEGISLATIVE TERM OF THE PEOPLES 
ASSEMBLY." THE OFFICIAL SYRIAN SATELLITE CHANNEL SHOWED 
CROWDED POLLING PLACES BUT DID NOT DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN 
VOTERS, CANDIDATE MONITORS AND VOTING OFFICIALS.  BY ALL 
REPORTS, THE ATMOSPHERE AT VOTING STATIONS WAS CALM, WITH THE 
OVERALL SITUATION CHARACTERIZED BY STRONG CURRENTS OF VOTER 
APATHY. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) THERE WAS ONLY ONE REPORT BY OBSERVERS FROM THE 
U.S. EMBASSY AND OTHER DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS OF UP TO 50 VOTERS 
BEING BUSSED BY AN UNKNOWN ENTITY TO A POLLING STATION IN THE 
DAMASCUS NEIGHBORHOOD OF MIDAN.  THERE WERE NO REPORTS OF 
HEAVY SECURITY OUTSIDE STATIONS; INDEED MOST U.S. EMBASSY 
PERSONNEL OBSERVED ACROSS A RANGE OF STATIONS THE PRESENCE OF 
ONE OR TWO POLICEMEN AND, POSSIBLY, A FEW PLAIN-CLOTHES 
PERSONNEL.  POST CANNOT CONFIRM WIDESPREAD ANECDOTAL REPORTS 
CLAIMING THAT VOTE-BUYING OCCURRED.  A TEAM OF U.S. EMBASSY 
OBSERVERS IN THE CITY OF SAIDNAYA, ABOUT 20 MILES NORTH OF 
DAMASCUS, SAW ON APRIL 23 WHAT APPEARED TO BE ONE MAN AND ONE 
WOMAN WITH A HANDFUL OF VOTER CARDS SEPARATELY ENTERING A 
POLLING PLACE AT A CITY POST OFFICE. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) BACKGROUND:  THE APPROXIMATELY 11,000 POLLING 
PLACES OPENED AT 0700 LOCAL ON APRIL 22 AND CLOSED AT 2000. 
SYRIAN ELECTIONS LAW STIPULATED THAT BALLOT BOXES WERE TO BE 
SEALED AT THE END OF THE FIRST DAY AND ONLY REOPENED BY VOTER 
OFFICIALS IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO VOTING AT 0700 ON APRIL 23. 
ELECTIONS WERE SCHEDULED TO END AT 1400 LOCAL ON APRIL 23. 
RESULTS WERE EXPECTED LATER IN THE WEEK, ACCORDING TO NEWS 
REPORTS.  ABOUT 12 MILLION SYRIANS WERE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE 
(INCLUDING SYRIAN EXPATRIATES WHO WOULD HAVE TO RETURN TO 
SYRIA TO CAST A BALLOT), AND ABOUT 7.6 MILLION ELECTION CARDS 
HAD BEEN ISSUED AS OF LATE APRIL, ACCORDING TO SYRIAN 
INTERIOR MINISTER MAJOR GENERAL BASSAM ABDUL-MAJEED IN AN 
APRIL 18 INTERVIEW ON OFFICIAL SYRIAN TELEVISION.  CITIZENS 
ELIGIBLE TO VOTE COULD OBTAIN ELECTION CARDS THROUGHOUT THE 
VOTING PROCESS.  BY LAW, VOTERS WERE ALLOWED TO CAST A BALLOT 
IN ANY POLLING PLACE IN SYRIA FOR CANDIDATES IN THAT AREA SO, 
THEORETICALLY, A GROUP OF VOTERS FROM DAMASCUS COULD LEGALLY 
TRAVEL TO ANOTHER PART OF THE COUNTRY TO INFLUENCE POLLING 
RESULTS THERE.  VOTING INSTRUCTIONS PUBLISHED IN MARCH NOTED 
THE CREATION OF VOTER CENTERS AT BORDER ENTRY POINTS, 
ESPECIALLY WITH LEBANON, "TO ENABLE INCOMING AND OUTGOING 
PASSENGERS THE RIGHT TO VOTE." 
 
¶6.  (SBU) APPROXIMATELY 2,500 CANDIDATES (INCLUDING 171 
WOMEN) OF MORE THAN 10,000 PERSONS WHO INITIALLY SUBMITTED 
THEIR CANDIDACY REMAINED IN THE RACE FOR THE 250 SEATS IN THE 
ASSEMBLY.  MANY CANDIDATES WHO SOUGHT BUT WERE NOT SELECTED 
FOR INCLUSION ON THE LIST OF THE BA'ATH PARTY-LED COALITION 
KNOWN AS THE NATIONAL PROGRESSIVE FRONT (NPF) SUBSEQUENTLY 
WITHDREW THEIR CANDIDACIES--A COMMON AND LEGAL PRACTICE IN 
SYRIA, ACCORDING TO PRESS REPORTS.  OF THE 250 ASSEMBLY 
SEATS, 167 WERE IN PRACTICE RESERVED FOR THE NPF COALITION, 
WITH THE BA'ATH PARTY TAKING AT LEAST 131 SEATS IN LINE WITH 
THE REGIME'S INTERPRETATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL ARTICLE 8 
STIPULATING THAT "THE BA'ATH PARTY LEADS THE STATE AND 
SOCIETY."  SO CALLED "INDEPENDENT" CANDIDATES WERE EXPECTED 
TO RECEIVE NO MORE THAN 83 SEATS. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) UPON ENTERING A POLLING PLACE, VOTERS WERE 
APPROACHED BY A CROWD OF CANDIDATE REPRESENTATIVES, WHO 
OFFERED THEM PREPRINTED LISTS WITH THEIR CANDIDATE AND HIS 
LIST ON IT.  LISTS OF "INDEPENDENT" CANDIDATES IN DAMASCUS 
ALSO INCLUDED A SEPARATE SECTION WITH THE NAMES OF THE 16 NPF 
CANDIDATES.  (NOTE:  DAMASCUS HAS 29 ASSEMBLY SEATS, MEANING 
THAT 13 SEATS COULD GO TO "INDEPENDENTS," ALTHOUGH SOME OR 
ALL OF THOSE WILL BE FROM INDEPENDENTS LISTS CONSIDERED VERY 
CLOSE TO THE REGIME.  END NOTE.)  VOTERS HAD THE OPTION OF 
FILLING IN A BLANK BALLOT OR PLACING A PREPRINTED CANDIDATE 
LIST IN AN ENVELOPE, WHICH WAS THEN PLACED IN A PLASTIC 
BALLOT BOX.  AFTER DEPOSITING THEIR BALLOT IN THE BOX, VOTERS 
WERE REQUIRED TO DIP THEIR RIGHT THUMB OR INDEX FINGER IN 
PURPLE INK.  VOTERS WERE BANNED BY LAW FROM CASTING A BALLOT 
FOR ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) ALL PARTIES IN THE SYRIAN OPPOSITION BOYCOTTED THE 
ELECTIONS, INCLUDING THE KURDISH FUTURE MOVEMENT, WHICH 
DROPPED OUT DAYS BEFORE BALLOTING, CITING AN INABILITY TO 
DEVELOP A FULL SLATE OF CANDIDATES.  THE DAMASCUS DECLARATION 
GROUP, THE HEART OF THE OPPOSITION, DECIDED IN MARCH AFTER 
EXTENSIVE INTERNAL CONVERSATIONS TO BOYCOTT THESE ELECTIONS, 
BELIEVING THAT ANY PARTICIPATION ALLOWED TO IT IN A SUCH A 
SHOW ENTERPRISE WOULD ONLY LEND THE REGIME LEGITIMACY. 
CORBIN