31 May 2014 16:09

Two Duma deputies to monitor presidential elections in Syria slated for June 3

MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) - Two Russian State Duma members will monitor the presidential elections in Syria, says Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Duma international affairs committee.

"Ivan Kvitka representing the United Russia faction and Sergei Gavrilov of the Communist Party will act as State Duma observers in Syria," Pushkov told Interfax on Saturday.

The presidential elections in Syria are scheduled for June 3.

It was reported earlier that the Syrian parliament had passed new election legislation in March, making a number of significant amendments to the election laws.

In particular, the new legislation in fact allows several candidates to run for president. Before these amendments were made, presidential elections in Syria in fact were referendums in which voters were asked to support the only candidate, i.e. Bashar al-Assad or previously his father, Hafez al-Assad.

The amendments stipulate that, to become a presidential candidate, one must be endorsed by at least 35 out of the 250 members of the Syrian parliament.

A presidential candidate cannot hold foreign citizenship.

Western media outlets have pointed out in their comments that these amendments effectively deprive Syrian opposition members living abroad of the chance to run for president.

In addition, amendments made to the Syrian constitution in 2011-2012 limit the time during which one person can be president by two consecutive 7-year terms.

The new version of the constitution stipulates that the number of presidential terms will be counted starting from the upcoming elections, which, as the media pointed out, theoretically enables al-Assad to stay in office for another 14 years.