Millions Of Syrians Won't Be Able To Vote In Their Election Today
The dictator's choice of voting location "is sending a message telling the opposition that we are celebrating through your demise," one Syrian analyst tells NPR.
It was a decision as symbolic as the Syrian presidential election itself.
This morning, Syrians woke to local television footage of President Bashar al-Assad and the first lady, Asma al-Assad, casting their ballots. The pair were not in a loyalist stronghold, but in Douma, the satellite town of Damascus whose residents proved some of the staunchest opponents to Syria's authoritarian regime.
In the early days of Syria's decade-long civil war, it was people from Douma who formed some of the first armed groups against the regime. Civilians there also held mass protests, risking live bullets from government soldiers to call for an end to the regime.
They paid a heavy price. In 2013, the regimetargeted homes, bakeries and hospitals.
