In the sea of posters for President Bashar Al Assad on the walls of Damascus streets ahead of Wednesday's election was a solitary billboard for Mahmoud Marei, a man who says he has a real chance of unseating the incumbent and ending a five-decade dynasty.
Mr Marei's campaign has been low-key by any standard but it was dwarfed by the pervasive Baath party operation led by the Al Assad family in the run-up to an election that western governments say is certainly rigged and little more than a pledge of loyalty to the embattled Syrian leader.
But the former Syrian jail inmate and member of the UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva insists that he is the leader of the first viable opposition to contest the presidential election in a country with little free speech.
"For the first time the domestic opposition participates in the elections and has a manifesto," he told The National from his near-empty campaign headquarters on bustling Arnous Square in central Damascus in the final days of the campaign.
The president’s critics in exile brand men like Mr Marei as fake stand-ins for a real opposition and an extension of the regime. He counters by saying his credibility stems from the fact that he is speaking from within Mr Assad’s Syria.
“The real opposition knows who I am, I was a political detainee for six years, I've been banned from travelling in Syria for five years. I have been an opponent of the regime for 45 years, I’ve been through prison and jail cells, I even spent time in solitary confinement,” he said.
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Supporters of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad hold up national flags at an election gathering at Umayyad Square, in the capital Damascus, on Sunday, May 23. AP Photo -
A supporter of President Bashar Al Assad prepares to release hundreds of balloons in the colours of the Syrian flag, at Umayyad Square, Damascus. Presidential elections are being held on Wednesday. AP Photo -
Holding flags and pictures of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, supporters rally at Umayyad Square. Wednesday's poll is the second since Syria's civil war began in 2011. AP Photo -
Balloons in the colours of the Syrian flag are released at Umayyad Square. The Assad family has ruled Syria for more than 50 years, including 21 with Bashar Al Assad as president. AP Photo -
A supporter of Bashar Al Assad holds up a picture of the Syrian president with the slogan 'Assad is the hope', at Umayyad Square. AP Photo -
Bashar Al Assad supporters hold up national flags and pictures of the president. He is campaigning on the pledge to reconstruct the country, which has been devastated by a decade-long civil war. AP Photo -
Supporters of Bashar Al Assad hold up images of the president and wave Syrian flags at Umayyad Square. More than 388,000 people have been killed in the civil war, and half the population displaced. -
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad will run against two challengers approved by the country's constitutional court in Wednesday's election. AP Photo -
Supporters of Bashar Al Assad fly national flags at Umayyad Square. Wednesday's vote will be confined to the two-thirds of the country under the Assad regime's control. AP Photo -
Heads of electoral centre committees take a legal oath in Damascus before Syria's judicial subcommittee, in preparation for the Wednesday's elections. EPA -
Heads of electoral centre committees take their oath. EPA -
Syrian Minister of Justice Ahmad Al Sayyed, centre, speaks after receiving the results of votes from Syrians living abroad. EPA
Mr Marei may be tolerated officially, but he faces a torrent of abuse from government supporters on social media. They posted images of the candidate with the hashtag "we are continuing without you" and mocking his slogans of "Yes for freeing all political detainees".
He has some defenders online, however, with one activist decrying the abuse of Mr Marei's on Facebook. "Very disgusted by all the people and pages insulting Marei, this person has followers, a family, and children," the activist wrote.
Despite the accusations of being a government plant and the abuse online, Mr Marei speaks frankly about what he sees are the needs and priorities of the Syrian people after more than 10 years of war that started with protests calling for the fall of the Al Assad family's rule.
“How can people want to collapse the regime? It didn’t work. We need to be realistic for the interests of Syria, for the young people who have no work and are living in a bad economic crisis,” he said.
A party for Assad
There is little doubt in Damascus that Mr Al Assad will win by a landslide and secure a fourth consecutive term in the office he took over from his father in 2000.
Beyond the confines of Mr Marei's office, the rest of the capital is in festival-like spirits.
Tents were erected to promote Mr Al Assad and huge loudspeakers play deafening patriotic songs.
“The last two weeks have been more of a celebration than an election, it’s like a national wedding or a holiday,” said university student Ruba Shami. “Some workers and students went to the rallies because they got days off and were given refreshments and could dance. It’s not often we get this – but it’s like a long holiday.”
When asked if she planned to vote and who she would cast a ballot for, Ms Shami hesitated. “I don’t know, we shall see on the day.”
Fares Othman was more forthright.
He works at the Finance Ministry, next to a hot spot for pro- Assad rallies, where music and particular dabke songs praise the president through the day and echo deep into the night.
“We come here, like we did seven years ago, to swear fealty again to our leader. This is our chance to show who we believe in,” Mr Othman said. “The other candidates are very brave, but they have no chance.”
The lead-up to the election was dominated by a relentless election campaign by the president's team with the slogan "work through hope" that sought to portray the 55-year-old Syrian leader as a man of action up to the task of leading for the next seven years.
A nation in ruins
While Mr Al Assad’s victory is in little doubt, the challenges he faces are immense.
Armed factions still control Idlib, the last rebel-held province that is now home to three million people – including more than a million children.
The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that 47 per cent of Syrians lost a close relative in the war with about 62 per cent forced from their homes.
Almost half of the Syrian population have lost their income and 85 per cent are struggling to afford food and basic necessities.
In a pre-election move from the seat of power, Mr Al Assad issued an amnesty waiving punishments for draft dodgers, illegal currency traders and those facing small criminal charges.
Aside from this quick-win pardoning spree, the Syrian government also managed to stabilise Syria’s faltering currency at a preferential rate of 3,100 Syrian pounds to the dollar – down from a record-high of 4,900 Syrian pounds to the dollar before the elections. The move gave a slight reprieve to people suffering from a steady economic decline.
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Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and his wife Asma cast their votes in Douma, near Damascus. Syria held presidential elections on May 26 after allowing its citizens around the world to vote the week prior at embassies. AFP -
An election official checks President Al Assad's ID, at the polling station where the Syrian leader had gone to vote. AP -
President Al Assad is surrounded by well-wishers. The US, European powers and the UN described the election as "illegitimate", amid accusations of rigging. AFP -
Syrians wait outside a polling station, with a national flag hanging above the entrance, in Aleppo. AFP -
Asma, the wife of President Al Assad, greets supporters after casting her vote. Reuters -
A Syrian woman casts her ballot at a polling station. Mr Al Assad was competing against two obscure rivals in the May 26 election. AFP -
Few people doubt Mr Al Assad will win and extend his presidency despite a decade of war that has left Syria and its economy in tatters. Reuters -
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All East John X Yazigi casts his vote in Damascus. Reuters -
Despite calls for a new constitution, Wednesday’s vote was held under the terms of Syria’s 2012 constitution. Reuters -
Presidential hopeful Mahmoud Merei at his office in Damascus -
Telecommunications provider Emmatel posts a message of support for Mr Al Assad ahead of elections. -
Another Syrian telecommunications provider MTN, installed a billboard advertisment reading "Our hand with yours", with Al Assad's picture. -
A photo card showing the election candidates. -
A banner in Bagdad street reads "Al Assad in my veins" -
A Syrian campaign poster showing Mr Al Assad.
But, the vote will do little to change the view of Mr Al Assad in the West or lead to the removal of sanctions on the regime – the US State Department has already denounced the vote.
“The proposed Syrian presidential election this year will neither be free nor fair,” they said. “In this environment, we do not assess this call for elections to be credible.”
Nicolas de Riviere, the French ambassador to the UN, said that "France will not recognise any validity to the elections planned by the regime at the end of May".
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad responded that "the West is boycotting Syria and imposing economic sanctions on it to push the refugees not to return to Syria".
More than 6.6 million Syrian refugees fled the war to neighbouring states and overseas.
Mr Marei may be an opponent but he agrees with the government that sanctions are a dead end.
“We need to work towards removing sanctions and restoring our resources,” he said.
