Cairo, May 27, 2013 – Syria is better off under a fractured opposition than the dictatorship of President Bashar Al Assad, according to an audience at the latest New Arab Debate – a regional free speech forum.<\/p>\n
The hard-fought session provoked bitter attacks on the human rights record of both sides but ended in overwhelming defeat of the motion: “This House believes President Assad is now a better option for Syria than the rebels.”<\/p>\n
Participants voted 77.9 percent to 22.1 percent against the president –\u00a0 with the final tally showing they had swung seven percent against him during the course of the debate.<\/p>\n
The event coincided with preparations for a US-Russian peace conference, offering scant hope for a settlement of the conflict that has claimed more than 80,000 lives and displaced six million people.<\/p>\n
Speaking for the motion, Dr Yazan Abdallah, academic and member of the Syrian Dialogue Project, said Syria was facing a proxy war, aided by Gulf-run media, some openly supporting Jihadis.\u00a0 But no one had the right to impose a government on the country by force.<\/p>\n
Syria, he added, needed a political process, multi-candidate elections and national reconciliation, which only President Assad – still popular in his country – could deliver.<\/p>\n
“To all those who have a voice which can influence any of the Syrians in the crisis, please convince them to lay down weapons, resort to dialogue and build a new Syria.”<\/p>\n
Arguing against the motion, Dr Mustapha Kamel El Sayed,\u00a0 Professor of Political Science at Cairo University, called on President Assad to resign as a first step towards launching a transitional and all-inclusive political process.<\/p>\n
He said Assad had missed a series of “golden opportunities” to engage with the opposition when the protests began but added: “no one is asking what will happen if the president stays.\u00a0 In this case every single protester will be taken to jail.”<\/p>\n
The New Arab Debates are a high-profile political platform to encourage free speech and accountability in the Arab region.<\/p>\n
They are transmitted for the second year running on Deutsche Welle TV along with its global network of partner channels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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