On the eve of the election, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy said the poll was "neither free nor fair", and Syria's fragmented opposition has called it a "farce".
The United States and the European Union said Tuesday the election was "neither free nor fair," and Syria's fragmented opposition has called it a "farce".
The 55-year-old Assad, who has been in power since 2000, is sure to keep his job after the election, every aspect of which is controlled by him and his Baath party.
Electoral law stipulates that candidates need to have lived in Syria continuously for at least the past decade, which rules out all exiled opposition figures.
Eyad al-Gharib, 44, is sentenced to four and a half years in prison over his role in helping arrest at least 30 protesters in Duma in 2011 who were then tortured.
"These girls and boys will be Syria's young adults in five or 10 years and will, in turn, want a future, economic prospects and political freedoms that the system cannot give them if it doesn't reform," he told AFP.
Of Syria’s 17 million people, 5.5 million are living as refugees in the region, mostly in Turkey, and a further six million are uprooted within their own country.
Officials from Syria and Russia, whose military support since 2015 helped Damascus reverse gains by Islamists and other rebels.
Russia turned the tide for Assad and with the regime now facing its gravest challenges, Moscow is in a better position than any other time to further squeeze Assad,
The Treasury said in a statement it imposed sanctions on Luna Al Shibl, Assad's top press officer, and Mohamad Ammar Saati bin Mohamad Nawzad.
The United States and its allies are united in continuing to apply pressure on Assad and his enablers until there is peaceful, political solution to the conflict.
In a speech to deputies at the presidential palace, Assad also blamed the sanctions, known as the Caesar Act,
The pound touched a record low of 3,000 to the dollar in June as many feared the new sanctions would tighten the noose around Assad and worsen Syria's dire economic plight.