Unless, like the Roman emperor Diocletian, they become bored, dictators do not voluntarily give up their absolute power and perhaps follow the emperor's example and take up gardening. Syria's dictator Bashar Assad is supposedly risking rejection by Syrian voters when he stands for “re-election" for a third seven-year term at the start of June. By any measure, however, this vote is going to be a mockery which will not reflect the wishes of the Syrian people. Logistically, with the country torn apart by warfare and large swathes of territory held by the rebels, no true ballot could be held. Moreover, there are some three million Syrians who have fled the country for refugee camps, principally in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. According to regime officials announcing the election, the vote will be open to Syrians both at home and abroad. Then there are some six million people who have fled the fighting but remain within Syria, refugees in their own country. Thus the electoral process will only be possible in areas still controlled by the regime. And besides what sort of an election is this going to be anyway? As a window-dressing exercise, Assad has changed the constitution so that rival candidates can stand. Yet who is really likely to be standing against Assad? It would be a brave member of the exiled political opposition who would step into the jaws of the beast to try and run a real campaign. And anyway, how could opposition supporters in the liberated areas of the country register their vote? It seems highly likely that there will be at least one or two candidates putting their name forward, but they will be from within the ranks of the regime. While they may be permitted the odd bit of strident criticism of Assad and his people - which will assuredly cause a stir among international media - any rival candidate will in truth be no more than an Aunt Sally, deliberately set up to be knocked down. Thus all that can be expected on June 3 will be a farce, a cynical power play disguised as something democratic. And the usefulness of this maneuver goes beyond the phony legitimization of the dictatorship and his brutal regime. News of the presidential contest coincided with credible reports of yet more poison gas attacks by the regime's soldiery. The predictable response from Washington was more huffing and puffing. But the tragedy is that Obama's “line in the sand” has now been crossed so often by Assad, it is no longer really visible. Despite his Secretary of State, John Kerry's increasingly desperate fixation with Palestine, Barack Obama is now looking to the preservation of US power and influence in Asia in the face of the rising Chinese superstate. Even as Assad gassed more of his people, Obama was flying to Japan for the first call on a major, four-stop Asian tour. Bashar Assad's spin doctors will very probably milk what might just pass for an election campaign and the “triumph” of their man for all it is worth. Simply going through the motions of a presidential contest will dupe some commentators who want so desperately to believe that there is a political solution to Syria's agony. But they should not be fooled. Assad's power base has been fortified with the bodies of at least 150,000 dead. He is president for life - or should that be “president for death”?
