Oh dear, the Guardian. In addition, you still have not answered my questions on whether Christians, Sunnis, women or non Baathist nominations are allowed to run! People live in fear.
Candidates[edit]
A total of 24 candidates, including 2 women and a Christian, submitted applications to the Supreme Constitutional Court for the presidency.[32][33][34] Of these, two candidates other than Assad met all the conditions to run, including the support of 35 members of the parliament.[35] The two other candidates chosen to run are seen as "mostly symbolic contenders" and "little known figures"[1]
Bashar al-Assad, the incumbent president, leader of Ba'ath Party
Hassan Abdullah al-Nouri, from the National Initiative for Administration and Change in Syria, a 54-year-old MP from Damascus
Maher Abd Al-Hafiz Hajjar, formerly from the People's Will Party, a 43-year-old MP from Aleppo. This party is led by veteran opposition leader Qadri Jamil who supported the initial protests in 2011 but then described calls for the overthrow of the government as "unrealistic and useless". Jamil was a member of the committee that drafted the new Constitution of Syria in 2011. However, People's Will won just two of 250 MPs in the 2012 parliamentary election with their allies from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party won a further four. Jamil was nominated Deputy Prime Minister by President Assad in June 2012 but removed in October 2013. The small number of MPs from the party indicates that most of his nominations must have come from either independents or MPs from the ruling National Progressive Front. A statement from the People's Will Party on 27 April distanced the party from Hajjar, claiming that Hajjar was no longer a member of either the People's Will Party, or the Popular Front for Liberation and Change. Instead the statement claimed that Hajjar represented only himself.[36]
The other 21 candidates that did not meet the criteria were:[37]
Sawsan Omar al-Haddad, born in Latakia Governorate in 1963. (woman)
Sameer Ahmad Mo'alla, born in Quneitra Governorate in 1961.
Mohammad Firas Yassin Rajjouh, born in Damascus in 1966.
Abdul-Salam Youssef Salameh, born in Homs governorate in 1971.
Ali Mohammad Wannous, born in Homs in 1973.
Azza Mohammad Wajih al-Hallaq, born in Damascus in 1962. (woman)
Talie Saleh Nasser, born in Kafrin in 1967.
Samih Mikhael Mousa, born in Btaiha in 1963. (Christian)
Mahmoud Khalil Halbouni, born in Harasta in 1946.
Mohammad Hassan al-Kanaan, born in al-Sanamayn in 1964.
Khaled Abdo al-Kreidi, born in al-Al in 1966.
Basheer Mohammad al-Balah, born in Damascus in 1931.
Ahmad Hassoun al-Abboud, born in al-Mayadin in 1962
Ayman Shamdin al-Issa Alam, born in al-Husseinyeh in 1967.
Ziad Adnan Hakawati, born in Damascus in 1955.
Ahmad Ali Qsei’eh, born in Jabaq in 1951.
Mahmoud Mohammad Nassr, born in Zahiriye in 1969.
Ali Hassan al-Hassan, born in Deir Saras in 1965.
Ahmad Omar Dabba, born in Tazeh Shamaliye in 1969.
Mahmoud Naji Moussa, born in Tadmur in 1950.
Hossein Mohammad Tijan, born in Aleppo in 1961.
Eligibility criteria[edit]
The conditions required to be a candidate in a presidential election are the following:
A candidate must be Muslim
A candidate must have the support of no less than 35 members of the parliament
A candidate must be 34 years old or older
A candidate must have lived in Syria for 10 years before the election
A candidate must be Syrian by birth, of parents who are Syrians by birth
A candidate must not be married to a non-Syrian spouse
