Damascus:
President Bashar al-Assad took the oath of workplace for a fourth term in war-ravaged Syria Saturday, immediately after taking 95 % of the vote in a controversial election dismissed abroad.
Assad was sworn in on the constitution and the Koran in the presence of more than 600 guests, which includes ministers, businessmen, academics and journalists, organisers stated.
The elections “have proven the strength of popular legitimacy that the people have conferred to the state,” 55-year-old Assad stated, in his inauguration speech.
They “have discredited the declarations of Western officials on the legitimacy of the state, the constitution and the homeland,” he added.
The vote extending Assad’s grip on energy was the second due to the fact the start out of a decade-lengthy civil war that has killed more than half a million folks, displaced millions and battered the country’s infrastructure.
On the eve of the May 26 election, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy stated the poll was “neither free nor fair”, and Syria’s fragmented opposition has referred to as it a “farce”.
With his campaign slogan, “Hope through work”, Assad cast himself as the sole architect of a reconstruction phase for the troubled nation.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)