Hundreds of Syrians vote at Amman embassy; scores protest polls

AMMAN –– Hundreds of Syrian nationals residing in Jordan as of early Wednesday headed to their country’s embassy to take part in their country’s presidential election expat voting, as scores of them protested against the vote.

Tight security presence was witnessed outside the embassy where around 100 Syrians gathered to protest against holding the presidential elections.

 Embassy staff declined to speak to The Jordan Times on the progress of the vote, noting that they have instructions not to make any comment. Still, they made comments to Syrian media outlets as well as television stations operated by pro-Syrian president Bashar Assad countries.

The embassy staff also did not give The Jordan Times access into the embassy.

Outside the building, queues of hundreds of Syrian nationals were seen waiting to vote, as traffic jams were also witnessed in the west Amman neighbourhood of Abdoun, where the embassy is located.

Around 1.3 million Syrian nationals live in Jordan, with over 600,000 of them registered as refugees.