4,000 dead, but municipal elections go ahead in Syria

Tanks fire on cities and people are killed on a daily basis across Syria, but this will not stop municipal elections from being held in the country. At least that is the plan announced by President Bashar al-Assad, who is facing the most serious challenge of his 11-year rule.
The government has even called for a high turnout in municipal elections on Monday, despite the violent unrest raging across the country and which has left more than 4,000 people killed since protesters calling for the ouster of al-Assad took to the street nine months ago, according to United Nations estimates.
"Who is going to vote in these elections? Undoubtedly, the regime's followers, and not the free people of Syria, so it will be as if the regime is repeating itself," activists based in Lebanon told dpa.
The Al-Baath newspaper, mouthpiece of the ruling party of the same name, which has been in power since 1963, published a front-page editorial calling on Syrian people to participate in the elections.
"December 12 is an important moment," it said. "All citizens must take part in the municipal elections and vote for the candidates they consider best capable of defending the public interest," wrote Al-Baath paper.
State television meanwhile was airing national songs and urging people to turn out at polls to show that "Syria remains a fortress of resistance and national unity."
A special indelible ink will be used for the first time in the local elections "to prevent any fraud," said Minister of Local Administration, Omar Ghalawanji, adding that all citizens over 18 years old are eligible to vote.
However, he did not give any figures for the number of voters or candidates.
"Al-Assad is still undermining the intelligence of the Syrian people. Demonstrators vowed to keep up their protests that have been growing in numbers and spreading throughout the country despite the brutal crackdown," said Bassima Kadamani, a member of the Syrian National Council, which groups opposition figures. "As a result, al-Assad's brutal crackdown has in effect already failed," she added.
Earlier this year, al-Assad, under pressure from daily protests since mid-March, ordered the formation of a committee, headed by his Vice-President, Farouk al-Sharaa. The committee's mission is to make proposals to amend the constitution and introduce legislative reforms to meet the demands of "people on the street."
But for Nadim Shehadeh, a political analyst at the London-based Chatham House, "all these are tricks of the trade designed to confuse the international community."
"Nobody in Syria believes that this is feasible. It is very clear that the regime has no intention to reform in any serious way," Shehadeh said.
A Beirut-based Arab diplomat told dpa that al-Assad cannot implement any reform given the current balance of power. Last week, the Arab League froze assets of 19 top Syrian officials and banned them from travelling to Arab states, as part of economic sanctions on Damascus to pressure it to end violence in the country.
Although the bloc said sanctions will be lifted once Syria allows monitors in the country, Damascus has demanded lifting sanctions as a pre-condition for allowing observers.
"These municipal elections are part of the manoeuvring game which the Syrian regime has proven to be an expert in, and it is just to bluff the Arab and the western world," said one diplomat, whose country is a key member at the Arab League.
"If al-Assad removes one thing from the constitution he will be destroying much of what his father, late president Hafez al-Assad, had worked for," he said.
Observers believe that the late al-Assad created a new constitution which put all authority in his hands, after having either excluded or eliminated all his political rivals.
"Looking deep into the situation, one can notice that all of the political reforms currently on the table and up for discussion will result in destroying the pillars upon which the Baath regime in Syria has been built on," the diplomat said.
"In the eyes of some of al-Assad's close aides if the regime agrees to carry out reforms demanded by protesters as well as by western governments it will be simply committing political suicide," he added.