Russia on Friday welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's "decisive" victory after he claimed re-election with a landslide win in a vote criticized by the opposition and Western nations.
"A decisive victory was won by the incumbent head of state B. Assad," the foreign ministry said in a statement, calling it "an important step towards strengthening" stability in war-ravaged Syria.
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States said in a statement criticizing Assad ahead of the election that the vote would not be free or fair.
Lawyer Hassan Abdul Azim of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change said that Assad's election would only worsen the plight of a country afflicted by hunger, poverty and an “authoritarian regime."
“This insistence on clinging to power does not bring stability,” Abdul Azim told Reuters in a phone interview, referring to acute fuel and food shortages and sky-rocketing inflation that has pushed most Syrians deeper into poverty.
Assad won a fourth term in office with 95.1% of the votes.
