Assad's cosmetic reform and his electoral charade have failed to change the situation on the ground

Amid the widespread of violence across Syrian cities and towns, the government held the first parliamentary elections under the new constitution. The regime has ignored public demands for sweeping change and has insisted on steering the country the way that suits the interests of the regime.

Given that, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Assad regime is in self-denial. It is simply not prudent to hold elections in a climate where basic human rights are denied and when a majority of people seek a regime change. No sensible person will call these elections as credible one! On top of that, elections are not what the Syrians are looking for these days. Syrians have been taking to the street for almost 14 months to rid the country of a regime that has institutionalized repression and has denied people their basic rights. For this reason, the phony elections are not expected to make any difference. The vote will not change matters on the ground as the confrontation between the regime — which killed over than 10,000 civilians and injured several thousands — and the opposition will continue.

In his most recent report, Kofi Annan said that the Syrian regime had violated the terms of his internationally backed six-point plan designed to solve the Syrian crisis. Clearly, the Assad regime has been buying time to crush the revolution once and for all. Although Assad accepted the Kofi Annan’s plan but he never had the intentions to honor the deal.

So far, I can say that Annan’s plan has failed to bring about the desired outcome. Observers say that the regime did not pull out heavy weapons from restive cities and towns. Kofi Annan offered a bleak assessment and argued that the country may descend into a full-scale civil war that may affect and entangle the whole region. While the military activities have declined since his plan was accepted by the Syrian regime, the level of violence has remained high.

In his briefing at the United Nations, Annan made it perfectly clear that the world cannot keep waiting endlessly for Assad to comply with the terms of his six-point plan. He added that the day might come when the United Nations concludes that its peace plan is useless and that the United Nations may have to consider a different plan.

Meanwhile, the United States has decided to extend sanctions against Syria for another year. In a notice sent to the Congress, President Barack Obama wrote that the Syrian regime “continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States.” The lack of credibility of the regime has pushed the United States to call for a regime change. Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said that Assad should step down.

However, the West has not yet taken meaningful measures that could put a price tag on Assad’s intransigence. Unwilling to arm the rebels, the West has no alternative to Annan’s scheme. “Right now the only option that we have is to try and get all sides to cooperate to stop the violence, to allow humanitarian efforts to take place and to help the people that most need that help,” said UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey.

Assad’s cosmetic reform and his electoral charade have failed to change the situation on the ground. Resistance continues and more Syrians suffer. The head of the Red Cross said that some 1.5 million of the Syrian people were in need of humanitarian aid. It is not about having elections. Indeed, the Arabs have no shortage of elections but there has been a deficit of democracy. Paradoxically, many authoritarian rulers in the Middle East have set up controlled Parliaments. And yet, this has failed to bring about genuine change that can be felt by average citizens. In the Syrian case it is quite visible to all observers.

In Syria, the controlled and fragile Parliament was designed to contain dissent within manageable framework. For this reason, people stopped believing in this practice and the parliament altogether. They took to the street because they seek to change matters in a genuine way. Assad seems unable to grasp the situation and therefore he will most likely keep beating around the bush without taking the right step to save his country from plunging into a civil war with no winner