New Law Paves Way for Reelection of Syria's Assad

Syria's exiled opposition will be barred from a presidential election to be held before July, virtually ensuring Bashar Assad's return to office three years into an uprising against his family's four-decade rule.

Saturday marks the third anniversary of the revolt, which began as peaceful protests calling for democratic change but deteriorated into an insurgency and then civil war after the regime brutally cracked down on dissent.

Assad has remained in power despite devastating fighting that has killed more than 146,000 people and driven millions from their homes, while rebels have seized large swathes of the country.

The opposition has repeatedly insisted that Assad must step down as part of any peace agreement, most recently doing so in two rounds of failed talks earlier this year.

In keeping with a constitution adopted in 2012, the elections will be open for the first time to multiple candidates, including from outside the ruling Baath party.

Assad has not announced his candidacy but is widely expected to seek another seven-year term.

But a new electoral law approved by parliament Thursday says any candidate must have lived in Syria for the past 10 years and not hold any other nationality. That effectively bars any member of the National Coalition, an umbrella opposition group based in Istanbul.

The only other candidates who appear eligible would be those from the tolerated opposition in Damascus, who have little popular support and no connection to the rebels battling to overthrow Assad.

The election must be called 60 to 90 days before the end of Assad's term on July 17.

Previous elections have been referendums to confirm the candidate chosen by the Baath party, whose power was entrenched in a 1973 constitution.

Hafez Assad came to power in 1970. When he died in 2000 his son Bashar took over.

- Vote could torpedo talks -

Both Syria's opposition and international mediators have rejected plans to hold a presidential election in the middle of a civil war, warning that doing so could deal a further blow to already faltering peace negotiations.

U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, in a briefing Thursday to the Security Council, said that, "if there is an election, my suspicion is the opposition, all the oppositions, will probably not be interested in talking to the government."

That drew criticism from Syria's information minister, who said he had overstepped his role.

Brahimi's remarks "do not fall within the framework of his mission," state television quoted Minister Omran Zohbi as saying Friday.

"Brahimi must respect his role as mediator, and be honest and impartial. His comments exceeded his authority."

The veteran Algerian diplomat is due to travel on Sunday to Iran, a key ally of Damascus.

Syria's regime has long portrayed the rebels as "terrorists" backed by foreign powers, insisting it has been able to survive the conflict because it has the support of the people.

But it has been accused of wide-ranging atrocities, from the jailing and torture of thousands of people to dropping so-called barrel bombs from the air, a tactic rights groups say fails to discriminate between fighters and civilians.

The rebels -- particularly the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant -- have also been accused of human rights violations.

Syria's civil war has forced more than nine million people from their homes, creating the world's largest displaced population, the U.N. said Friday.

"It is unconscionable that a humanitarian catastrophe of this scale is unfolding before our eyes with no meaningful progress to stop the bloodshed," U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

With more than 2.5 million Syrians registered or awaiting registration as refugees in neighboring countries, Syrians are expected to soon overtake Afghans as the world's largest refugee population.

More than 6.5 million people are displaced inside Syria, meaning the total number of Syrians who have fled their homes now exceeds 40 percent of the pre-conflict population, the UNHCR said, stressing that at least half of them are children.