Statement by People’s Will Party on The Presidential Elections

First: Determining a position on these elections is a purely internal Syrian matter. That is, only Syrians have the right to express and practice positions on these elections, whatever these positions are. foreign countries and powers have no right to intervene, either for support or opposition.

Second: There is no connection at all, between the elections of the 26th of the this month, on the one hand, and UNSC Resolution 2254 and the elections it stipulates, on the other hand. Any attempt to compel a merger between the two is bound to be worthless and will not succeed; The elections stipulated in 2254 are elections based on a new constitutional basis agreed upon by the Syrians, and within appropriate conditions that include all Syrians in all of their whereabouts, which is what must be sought to be realized, and what can be, and must be, achieved as soon as possible.

Third: These elections will not contribute to ending the Syrian crisis because they do not take place in the context stipulated in UNSCR 2254, which paves the way for participation of all Syrians under supervision by observers from the United Nations. And within the dangerous situation that our country is going through, our position on any elections is determined on the basis of the extent to which such elections contribute to pushing towards ending the humanitarian catastrophe and towards a political solution and restoring the unity and sovereignty of Syria, and towards empowering the Syrian people to truly practice their self-determination. The upcoming elections, however, will not contribute in achieving any of these goals.

Fourth: What is more dangerous is that within the present de facto division – not to mention the issue of electoral integrity and transparency – these elections will take place on a part of the Syrian land, not the entire Syrian land, and will include part of the Syrians inside and outside Syria, not all of them. This matter will help, directly or indirectly, those who seek to perpetuate the division of the country by transforming the separation lines, from temporary military-style separation lines to permanent economic and political separation lines, using the tools of siege and sanctions, on the one hand, and taking advantage of separate «elections», none of them inclusive of all Syrians and all Syrian land, on the other side.

Fifth: The criterion for success of any election is its contribution to solving the problems facing the state and society, and among the most important of those problems are the ones related to the dignity, livelihood and socio-economic status of people, including its many headings in terms of exchange rate, wage level, standard of living, poverty and unemployment rates. The upcoming elections will not contribute in solving any of these problems, if they not complicated them.

Based on all of this, our position in People’s Will Party is that what must be worked on, and what can be achieved through the interaction between the new international balance and the efforts of the Syrian patriots, is the full implementation of UNSC Resolution 2254 as the mandatory and only way to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of Syria and to open the way for its people to their actual practice of their self-determination. Regarding the elections to be held on the 26th of this month, our position is the same as our position on the elections that took place in 2014: not to participate, neither in candidacy nor voting.

Presidency of People’s Will Party
Damascus in May 3, 2021