August 15, 2026 03:22 am (IST)

Make this your homepage

Foreign

Ajit Doval breaks silence on Operation Sindoor in Discovery’s explosive new docuseries | Rahul Gandhi's 'mock hug' taunt sparks row; Centre stresses 'mutual respect' with Italy | Delhi on high alert: Bomb threat to High Court, airport and multiple locations ahead of I-Day | ‘Who are they to interfere?’: CJI Surya Kant slams Bar Council of India over NALSAR students’ enrolment row | 'Shows how low Congress has sunk': BJP slams Rahul Gandhi over Modi foreign policy jibe | From guns to glamour: Former women Maoists walk the ramp in Chhattisgarh | Netaji row: Suvendu Adhikari govt strips BJP MP Anant Maharaj of state honour | Sukhbir Badal attacked by Nihang Sikh with kirpan at Maharashtra gurdwara; assailant detained | ‘If you cannot do it, we will pass an order’: Supreme Court’s final warning to Centre on food labels | ‘Time to move on’: Bombay HC sends strong message in Vijay Mallya-bank dispute

Photo: UNHCR/A. McConnell

UN warns Syria against holding election amidst crisis

India Blooms News Service | | Apr 22, 2014, at 04:43 pm

New York, Apr 22 (IBNS): Urging Syrian authorities to reconsider plans to conduct a presidential election in early June, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Joint UN-League of Arab States Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi on Monday pledged to continue to seek and build on any opportunity to resolve the country's three-year civil war.

Addressing reporters in New York, Ban’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said holding elections in the current circumstances “will damage the political process and hamper the prospects for political solution that the country so urgently needs.”

“Such elections are incompatible with the letter and spirit of the Geneva Communiqué,” he added in reference to the action plan adopted 2012 during the first international conference on the conflict, calling for a transitional government to lead to free and fair elections.

Earlier this year, Brahimi mediated two rounds of talks between the Syrian Government and the main opposition group aimed at finding a political solution to the crisis based on the goals of the Communiqué, but the both sides stuck to their positions and the discussions yielded only modest cooperation on a humanitarian issue related to aid access in the long-besieged Old City of Homs.

President Bashar al-Assad’s Government announced that it would hold the poll on 3 June despite three years of fighting between his office and various opposition groups. According to media reports, the Constitutional Court will start accepting nominations for president as early as on Tuesday.

Well over 100,000 people have been killed and an estimated 9 million others driven from their homes. In addition, there are currently more than 2.4 million refugees registered in the region: some 932,000 in Lebanon; 574,000 in Jordan; some 613,000 in Turkey; 223,000 in Iraq; and about 134,000 in Egypt, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Dujarric said that despite the UN’s criticism, Ban and Brahimi will “continue to search and build upon any opening for a solution to the tragedy in Syria”.

(Members of a Syrian refugee family huddle around a stove inside their shelter days ago in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Photo: UNHCR/A. McConnell)

#Ban Ki-Moon # Syria # Presidential election # civil war

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.

India
International

Related Images

German president says ‘no reason’ to align with Trump on Iran war Mar 24, 2026, at 11:22 pm

In Images: Canadian PM Carney concludes his China visit Jan 17, 2026, at 01:30 am

In images: King Charles III hosts President Trump and First Lady Melania at State Banquet in Windsor Sep 19, 2025, at 12:49 am