الولايات المتحدة تدعو الانتخابات السورية 

"بالفرصة الضائعة"

مكتب برامج الإعلام الخارجي الأمريكي

USINFO - 20/4/2007

United States Calls Syrian Elections a Missed Opportunity

State’s Carpenter urges Damascus to pursue true democratic reforms

By David Shelby

USINFO Staff Writer

Washington –- The United States has dismissed the Syrian parliamentary elections scheduled for April 22 as a missed opportunity for meaningful democratic reform, saying the highly restricted nature of the electoral process renders the vote meaningless.

“[T]he Syrian government and its ruling Baath Party periodically go through this motion of holding what they call elections, but the regime continues to use authoritarian rule as established by its emergency law, its all-powerful security forces, and its monopoly control over the legal process and framework to ensure that the election -- the so-called election -- doesn't in any way reflect a democratic process,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs J. Scott Carpenter told journalists during a briefing in Washington April 19.

Carpenter said the Syrian parliamentary candidates carefully are vetted for loyalty to the ruling Baath Party and that the vast majority of eligible voters in Syria do not even have voting cards.

Carpenter said the democratic process involves much more than an election.  “[T]he election day of any election is only the end point of an entire process,” he said.  “How long is the campaign?  Does the opposition have access to the airwaves to make its point and case?  Does it have money with which to conduct its campaign?  All of these elements are part of an election process ... that can convey legitimacy.”

He said a free and fair election includes opposition parties, a free press, civil society participation and nonpartisan elections observers.  He said the presence of an independent electoral commission is important in establishing the legitimacy of an election, as is the legal framework for the electoral process, including methods of nominating candidates and candidates’ access to the media.

Carpenter pointed to other recent elections in the region to draw a contrast with Syria ’s electoral exercise.  He said the Yemeni elections demonstrated true political pluralism and an appropriate role for the media.  He said the Palestinian legislative elections met every international standard for free and fair elections and were “perhaps the best run elections in the Arab world.”

Carpenter urged the Syrian regime to move toward a more open democratic process in its own self-interest.  “[M]aybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but at some point, the people are just going to be so fed up that they're not going to take it anymore,” he said.  “And the problem then is that you have a situation in which there is no predictability.”

http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=

April&x=20070420174009NDyblehS0.3269922

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نشرنا لهذه المقالات لا يعني أنها تعبر عن وجهة نظر المركز كلياً أو جزئياً

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من حق الزائر الكريم أن ينقل وأن ينشر كل ما يعجبه من موقعنا . معزواً إلينا ، أو غير معزو .ـ