Mediator Brahimi says Syria election now won't aid peace talks

If Syria goes ahead with an election that would likely secure a new term for President Bashar al-Assad, the opposition will probably not be interested in pursuing further peace talks with the government, peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Thursday.
   
"There is to my knowledge no official declaration yet in Damascus that this election is going to take place, but there are a lot of activities that seem to indicate that there is an election," Brahimi told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council.
   
"If there is an election, then my suspicion is that the opposition, all the oppositions, will probably not be interested in talking to the government," he said.
   
A Western diplomat inside Brahimi's closed-door briefing for the Security Council said Brahimi told its 15 member nations that he doubted another 7-year term for Assad would put an end to the suffering of the Syrian people.
   
Two rounds of peace talks mediated by U.N.-Arab League peace mediator Brahimi in Geneva failed to bring the government and opposition any closer to agreement on a transitional government as called for in a declaration adopted at an international conference in the Swiss city in June 2012.
   
The Security Council president this month, Luxembourg's U.N. Ambassador Sylvie Lucas, told reporters after the meeting that Brahimi's position was that holding an election at the present time would be "incompatible with the Geneva process."
   
Several senior Western diplomats told reporters that Brahimi said in private meetings this week that a re-election of Assad would signal a lack of seriousness on the government's part.
   
Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari did not confirm there would be a presidential vote soon, but said holding elections was a "sovereign domestic matter."
   
Another senior Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity that Syria's ally Russia was encouraging Assad to postpone the election until after a third round of negotiations in Geneva.

This comes as a U.N. diplomat said Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi is telling the U.N. Security Council that the Syrian government used "delaying tactics" during peace talks in Geneva, which ultimately failed.    
        
According to the diplomat, Brahimi said that at the peace talks last month, the opposition agreed to discuss terrorism and the establishment of a transitional governing body in parallel.  But Brahimi said the government insisted on concluding the terrorism discussion before starting any talk of a transitional government.                  

The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because Wednesday's council meeting was closed.              

The diplomat said Brahimi asked the government and opposition delegations to reflect with their leaders, saying they need to be "better motivated" for a new round. 
         
Also on Thursday, Syria's state TV said the parliament has unanimously approved a new election law allowing multiple candidates for president, opening doors to other potential candidates besides President Bashar Assad.          

The vote comes nearly four months before Assad's seven-year term as president officially expires. Syrian officials say the presidential elections will be held on time and Assad has suggested he would run again.            

The bill adopted Thursday says only candidates who lived in Syria for 10 years prior to nomination can run. The TV didn't say how many lawmakers voted for the bill.            

Syria has been ruled by the Baath party since it seized power in a 1963 coup.             

Past presidential elections under Assad and his late father, Hafez Assad, were de-facto referendums with one of the Assads being the sole candidate.