TEHRAN (FNA)- Some participants and parliamentary delegations present in the Friends of Syria conference in Tehran are due to fly to Damascus tomorrow to observe (but not monitor) the Tuesday presidential election in the country at the invitation of the Syrian government, Syria's top diplomat in Tehran said.


"Chairwoman of the Syrian parliament's Foreign Policy Committee Fadia Dib, acting on behalf of the Syrian parliament speaker, invited the participants in Tehran's today conference to visit Syria at the time of the election to observe the electoral process," Syrian Ambassador to Tehran Adnan Mahmoud told FNA in Tehran on Sunday, speaking on the sidelines of the second 'Friends of Syria' conference attended by the chairpersons of the national security and foreign policy commissions of the parliaments of those countries which have friendly relations with Syria.

He, meantime, stressed that the foreign delegations will be observing the election, and not monitoring it as Damascus wants them to see that Syrians will vote freely and that all the necessary grounds are prepared for the presence of the Syrian citizens at the polls.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi announced today that a number of delegations participating in the Tehran conference are due to travel to Syria from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Monday.

The presidential election in Syria is due to be held on June 3 despite a surge of West-backed terror attacks mostly against civilian targets by armed militants as well as opposition publicity campaigns to undermine the landmark election process.

Syrian expatriates cast their votes at the country’s embassies and missions abroad on Wednesday, showing a massive turnout that even shocked the western media.

Voting for the Syrian expatriates in neighboring Lebanon was extended for an additional day due to an unprecedented turnout.

There are three candidates in Syria’s presidential election, namely incumbent President Bashar al-Assad and Maher Abdel Hafiz Hajjar and Hassan Abdallah al-Nuri.

According to the Syria’s Interior Ministry officials, nearly 16 million Syrians are eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential poll.

Damascus has insisted that it would hold the presidential poll despite the foreign-backed militancy, which has, according to some sources, killed over 150,000 people and displaced millions of others since it started in March 2011.

By Fars News Agency

 

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