Syria to hold presidential vote on May 26

DAMASCUS, Apr 18 (AFP): Syria will hold a presidential election on May 26 likely to keep in power President Bashar al-Assad, in a country devastated by a decade of war.

The vote will be the second since the conflict erupted in March 2011, with no political solution in sight to end a war that has killed at least 388,000 people and displaced half the population.

The election, announced on Sunday by speaker of parliament Hamouda Sabbagh, also comes as Syria is mired in a deep economic crisis.

Assad, who took power following the death of his father Hafez in 2000, has not yet officially announced that he will stand for re-election.

The now 55-year-old won a previous poll three years into the war, in 2014, with 88 per cent of the vote.

Since government forces have clawed back swathes of territory from rebel and jihadist forces with military help from regime allies Russia and Iran and Tehran's proxy Lebanese militia, Hezbollah.

But large parts of Syria still escape government control and polling will not take place in those areas.

They include the northwestern province of Idlib, a major rebel bastion controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham which is led by members of Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate.