Amid violence, Syrians vote on new constitution

BEIRUT – With violence flaring in several regions, Syrians cast ballots Sunday for a new constitution hailed as a historic breakthrough by President Bashar Assad and denounced as a farce by his opponents.

The vote came almost a year after widespread anti-government protests broke out, inspired by so-called Arab Spring revolts elsewhere in the region.

The Syrian government responded with a fierce crackdown, but the protests persisted and evolved into an armed insurgency that has wrested some areas from government control. Assad has rejected opposition demands that he resign and calls the new constitution proof of his commitment to democratic change.

Assad’s opponents label the vote a stalling tactic, and a White House spokesman has dismissed the balloting as “laughable.”

On Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said there was “every possibility of a civil war” in Syria, and warned that foreign intervention probably would speed it up.

Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ibrahim Shaar told the official Syrian Arab News agency that voter turnout was brisk “except in some areas.” Syrian television showed pictures of Assad, his wife and other people calmly casting ballots.

“The Syrian people support the constitution and the president,” one voter told Addounia television, which is privately owned but staunchly pro-government.

State media reported that huge crowds rallied in support of the new constitution in Damascus’ Saba Bahrat Square, hoisting the Syrian flag and likenesses of Assad, whose family has ruled for more than 40 years. Assad still maintains considerable support, especially among minority groups and middle- and upper-class Syrians who fear Iraq-style chaos should he fall.

Many independent observers agree that the new constitution contains some important reforms, such as enshrining a right to free speech, ending the ruling Baath Party’s monopoly on power and setting the stage for multiparty elections. But the blueprint would leave Assad in power with the possibility of running for a pair of new seven-year terms.

Opposition activists say the reforms may have been acceptable a year ago, but that only Assad’s ouster will satisfy them now.

“A lot of blood has been spilled. There are people who have been killed, and killers who need to be punished,” said an activist reached Sunday in the central city of Homs, a hub of the rebellion.

“The referendum is one big joke,” said the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Each day in Homs we have at least 50 people killed. And they are holding a referendum?”

The activist said there were no polling places operating in anti-government strongholds such as Homs’ Baba Amr, Khalidiya and Qusour neighborhoods. The government said there were almost 600 polling centers opened in Homs province, Syria’s third-most populous, among more than 14,000 polling centers nationwide.

At least 40 people were reported killed Sunday across Syria.