Assad Files to Run For Third Term as Syrian President

Syrian President Bashar Assad filed to run in presidential elections set to be held on May 26. The elections were announced on Sunday. Assad submitted the documents necessary to run for his third term in office on Wednesday, the parliament speaker announced on state media, Reuters reported.

The vote comes amid the country’s devastating civil war. Assad won election in 2014, three years into the long-running civil war, with almost 90 percent of the vote. Syrian presidents are limited to two seven-year terms except for the president elected in 2014, Reuters reported., citing the country’s 2012 constitution.

Millions of Syrians displaced by the civil war will be unable to cast ballots. Opposition figures who are living in exile will be ineligible to run in the election, according to the report.