U.S: Syria should postpone presidential elections to resume Geneva talks

The third round of Geneva talks on the Syrian crisis will only be resumed upon the condition that the Syrian regime agrees to postpone the upcoming presidential election scheduled in June, and to form a transitional government, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily news conference on Tuesday.

Russia’s Today newspaper reported Carney as saying that “On the matter of the Geneva talks, they are certainly on hold. Resuming the talks and starting a third round of negotiations is dependent upon the Assad’s regime agreeing to discuss, among other issues, a transitional governing body with full executive powers, as cited in the Geneva communique, pointing out that Damascus has refused to do so in the previous two rounds. “The regime also needs to postpone the upcoming presidential elections” he said.

Carney described the elections as nothing more than “a sham, democratically, and are entirely inconsistent with the Geneva communique’s call for the establishment of a transitional governing body.”