July 10 2000

Capital Damascus

The thuderous sound of applause and chants resonated throughout the crowd as he stepped outside the limousine flocked at His side by elite bodyguard.

Raising his hands, he lifted his gaze against the sweltering heat and the summer sun, he imagine his secret service were covering him in the shadow, the crowd instantly burst into shouts.

"Assad! Bashar al Assad! God bless bashar al Assad!"

The chants of the crow was intoxicated the waxing of the old and young intermixing and creating a feverish pitch.

Raising his hands in a salute, he made note of his lanky arms in disgust, he definitely wasn't going to allow his new body to be so weak, he would make sure to hit the gym soon, unfortunately since finding himself in the body of Assad in ten days ago he really hadn't been able to have a time to himself.

But he intended to rectify such a situations, well he intended to change many things, thankfully he had the most important part being the seizure of power was already done.

So he could more easily began implementing his own ideas, and the most important would have today...

Haha standing inside the large ancient stone mason building, he moved towards the ballot box, his guards moving to keep the Flocks of women and men from swarming him, before casting his ballot a simple two choice,a yes for himself or no.

Blue to chose for him to be a president or brown to say no, this was a referendum, of course it was all political show, he had already seized all the power of military and economy through his clans, still such a force had to continue.

Under the flashing camera he casted his ballot with a carefuly crafted smile, before turning his body and heading toward his limousines, entering them he departed towards his palace.

The chanting and flashing of camera following him, and his thoughts on how to completely control the media, and what he intended to do with the Lebanon occupation forces, the calls of greater Syria was getting more resounding as time passed.

****

After the death of President Hafez al-Assad on June 10, the Syrian parliament voted to amend the Constitution to lower the minimum age for presidential candidates from 40 to 34, Bashar al-Assad's age at the time

A presidential referendum was held in Syria on 10 July 2000, following the death of President Hafez al-Assad. The candidate, chosen by the parliament, was his son, Bashar al-Assad, with voters then asked to approve or reject his candidacy. A reported 99.7% of voters voted in favour, with a turnout of 94.6%.