1971 Syrian presidential election

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1971 Syrian presidential election
Flag of Syria (1963-1972).svg
 196112 March 1971 (1971-03-12) 1978  
  General Hafez al-Assad (1930-2000), the new president of Syria in November 1970.png
Nominee Hafez al-Assad
Party Ba'ath Party
Popular vote1,919,609
Percentage99.20%

1971, 1978, 1985, 1991, 1999, 2000, and 2007 Syrian presidential election results by Governorate.svg
Results by governorate
Assad:      90–100%
      Election not held

1971 Presidential election in Syria.jpg
Another variant of the presidential election 1971 results, which includes "against" and "invalid” votes.

President before election

Ahmad al-Khatib
Ba'ath Party

Elected President

Hafez al-Assad
Ba'ath Party

Presidential elections were held in Syria on 12 March 1971. [1] There was only one candidate, Hafez al-Assad, with voters asked to approve or reject his candidacy. A reported 99% of voters voted in favour, with a turnout of 95%.

These were the first elections to ever take place in Ba'athist Syria, which was established in 1963 following the 1963 coup that brought the Ba'ath Party to power. The elections marked the beginning of the Assad dynasty, who seized power in November 1970; the Ba'ath Party and Assad family would rule Syria for the next six decades until the regime collapsed by anti-Assad rebels in 2024.

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
Hafez al-Assad Ba'ath Party 1,919,60999.20
Against15,4800.80
Total1,935,089100.00
Valid votes1,935,08999.96
Invalid/blank votes7140.04
Total votes1,935,803100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,031,30695.30
Source: Nohlen et al.

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p229 ISBN   0-19-924958-X