Syrian President Assad to Run for re-Election in May

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has submitted documents to run for a third term in an election scheduled for May 26, parliament’s speaker said on state media, al-Jazeera reports.

The parliament speaker announced the election – the second under the shadow of the war – on Sunday. Washington and the Syrian opposition have denounced it as a farce designed to cement Assad’s authoritarian rule.

Under Syria’s 2012 constitution, a president may only serve two seven-year terms – with the exception of the president elected in the 2014 poll.