October 20, 2026 09:01 am (IST)
Follow us:
UN warns Syria against holding election amidst crisis
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)
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.
Latest Headlines
India–New Zealand free trade agreement takes effect on October 20
Mon, Oct 19 2026
Ecuador: Priest dies after giant crucifix falls on him during mass, video goes viral
Sun, Oct 18 2026
Planning a Bali trip? Fuel shortage triggers odd-even rule, Indian tourist shares nightmare
Sat, Oct 17 2026
Air France bans Pakistani pilots from Israel flights after security crackdown; United Airlines follows suit
Wed, Oct 14 2026
flydubai cockpit attack probe widens: Two Maldivian pilots detained in UAE over links to Omani co-pilot
Wed, Oct 14 2026