the electoral process. Punishing those who abuse the will of the voters. Selection of candidates The Speaker of the People's Assembly of Syria, Hammouda Sabbagh (Ba'ath Party), announced the commencement of candidacy for Presidential elections, starting from Monday 19 April. In his speech at the first session of the second extraordinary round of the People’s Assembly, Sabbagh called on those who wish to run to submit their candidacy applications to the Supreme Constitutional Court within a period of 10 days until Wednesday 28 April. Requirements for a presidential candidate According to Law No. 5 of the year 2014 of the general elections code, The 5th chapter - article No. 30, the candidate for the post of President of the Syrian Arab Republic must: have reached the age of 40 years. have Syrian Arab nationality by birth. have all their civil and political rights and not be convicted of despicable crime. not be married to a foreigner. be resident in Syrian territories for no less than 10 consecutive years when standing for election. not have a nationality (citizenship) other than that of the Syrian Arab Republic. not to be deprived of their right to vote. Further eligibility requirements in the Constitution include: The religion of the President is Islam (Article 3) The President cannot carry another nationality (Article 152) The requirement for candidates to be backed by 35 members of parliament gives power to the ruling National Progressive Front, which dominates the assembly, and the requirement to have lived continuously in Syria for the past 10 years excludes opposition figures in exile. Polling Candidates On 3 May, the Syrian Supreme Constitutional Court announced that three candidates had been accepted, with the others rejected for not meeting the constitutional and legal conditions: Bashar al-Assad, incumbent president of Syria (2000–present) and Ba'ath Party candidate (Damascus) Mahmoud Ahmed Marei, lawyer, born 1957, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights and former secretary-general of the National Front for the Liberation of Syria. He is former President of the Youth Office at the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, member of the internal opposition delegation to the Geneva peace talks on Syria (2017). Democratic Arab Socialist Union Party (NCC) candidate (Damascus) Abdullah Sallum Abdullah, born 1956, former state minister for People's Assembly Affairs, former MP and Socialist Unionists Party candidate (Aleppo) According to the Daily Telegraph, "Few consider former state minister Abdallah Salloum Abdallah and