Assad to run for Syrian presidency

President Bashar Assad has declared his candidacy for presidential elections in Syria, the country’s parliamentary speaker says.

Jihad Laham made the announcement about the June 3 poll on state-run television.

Assad, who has ruled the country since taking over from his father in 2000, was widely expected to run for a third seven-year term in office.

He is also likely to win the election, though it is unclear how the vote can take place in areas engulfed in fighting.

Opposition activists and the West have criticised the balloting, saying it will only exacerbate Syria’s three-year civil war that has killed over 150,000 people and displaced more than one-third of the population.

Six other contenders are in the race, but they are mostly expected to give the election a veneer of legitimacy.