Disputed Syrian poll closes

Syria's Tuesday elections drew to a close at midnight local time (2100 UTC), after voting was extended by five hours due to a "high turnout."

Syria's opposition, its Western backers and regional allies, including the US, France, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have already dismissed the poll, with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen already describing Syria's vote as a "farce."

He said no NATO ally would recognize the result of an election that did "not fulfil international standards."

Three years of warfare have displaced half of Syria's population and claimed more than 160,000 lives. United Nations-mediated negotiations failed twice this year in Geneva.

Voting was non-existent on Tuesday in swathes of eastern and northern Syria, including large areas of the country's second city, Aleppo.

The only monitors were sent by Assad allies - Iran, North Korea and Russia.

Assad supporters dance

Assad and his wife Asma cast their ballots in central Damascus where thousands of loyalist Syrians waved photos and flags. Some even pricked their fingers to stamp blood on the voting form to endorse Assad.

The sound of explosions reverberated across the capital as pro-government forces and rebels battled in adjacent rural towns. Plumes of smoke hung over the skyline. Security was tight as troops searched cars and checked identity documents.

In another government stronghold, Latakia, along the Mediterranean coast, voting took place in a carnival-like atmosphere, with voters singing and dancing.

Voters queued in Homs, Syria's third-largest city, where on Monday a truck bomb had killed 10 people.

A few polling stations were also located in Hom's Old City precinct, which was recently evacuated by rebel fighters under a ceasefire deal after a 2-year siege.

Assad faced two government-approved challengers, Maher Hajjar and Hassan al-Nouri, both who were little known in Syria before declaring their candidacies.

Syria's interior ministry said 15.8 million people were eligible to vote, both inside and outside Syria. Last week, 200,000 Syrians had voted abroad, it said.

Casting his vote in Damascus on Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said the poll marked the start of a "path toward a political solution."

"Charade," says opposition leader

Syrian opposition chief Ahmed Jarba, writing in the Washington Post, said the vote was a "charade."

Dictators are not elected, they hold power by force and fear," Jarba wrote, referring to Assad.

A spokesman for the International Crisis Group, Noah Bonsey, said Tuesday's polling was likely to only prolong the warfare. "It leads to continued war, not victory," he said.

ipj/pfd (AFP, AP, Reuters)