LIVE: Syrian citizens head to polls in Damascus to vote in presidential election

Syrians citizens are heading to polling stations in Damascus on Wednesday, May 26, to cast their vote in the country’s presidential election. This will be the second presidential election to be held since the start of the conflict in 2011, in which hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced. The three candidates are current President Bashar al-Assad, former cabinet member Abdullah Salloum Abdullah and opposition party member Mahmoud Ahmad Marai. Forty-eight other candidates had their applications refused by the Syrian Supreme Constitutional Court. Assad announced in April that he will run in the election for a fourth, seven-year term.