Syria’s parliamentary elections are being met with cynicism on the streets of Damascus despite being billed as the first multi-party elections the country has seen in decades.
Damascus – The streets of Damascus are covered with pictures of candidates running in the May 7 parliamentary elections. Alongside the images, there are political slogans that many say are out of date and no longer express a coherent agenda.
The area east of Jisr al-Thawra near Martyr’s Square — or Marjeh, as Syrians prefer to call it — is one of Damascus’ most famous and poorest markets.
Some call it “the thieves’ market,” but the stall owners prefer Souq al-Juma, the Friday Market. Most of the items on sale are either used or little more than junk.
Absent from the market and the area surrounding it are any parliamentary election campaign posters, which have become a subject of ridicule among the market’s peddlers.
One vendor spreads some used watches out between his feet on a small rug, shouting: “Authentic Japanese watches…made in Germany…and with every watch you get a free candidate for parliament!”
Not surprisingly, the vast majority of candidates in Damascus and the surrounding area have chosen wealthy neighborhoods such as Mazzeh, Malki, and Abou Roummaneh to hang their campaign banners...
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-parliamentary-elections-cynicism-wins-day