Syria will hold presidential elections on May 26th, and the country’s current president, Bashar al-Assad, will be the 6th candidate to apply on April 21st.
Syrian Speaker Mahmoud Sabbagh said On the 21st that Assad submitted documents for the presidential election on the same day, according to the Syrian state news agency. The registration of candidates was initiated on 19 April and, to date, six candidates, including one woman, have submitted applications.
Faten Ali Nahar, a 50-year-old Damascus resident, has applied to run for president of Syria, becoming the first woman to run for president of the country, a spokesman for the Syrian parliament said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. With the exception of age and place of birth, Nahar has very little public information.
On May 26th Syria will hold a second presidential election in the shadow of war, with presidential candidates having to live in the country for at least 10 years and at least 35 lawmakers.
Assad came to power in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, and AFP reported that the election was seen as likely to keep him in power.
