Assad wins Syria election with 88.7%: parliament speaker

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad won a controversial election held in regime-controlled territory with a sweeping 88.7 percent of the vote, parliament speaker Mohammad al-Lahham announced late on Wednesday.

The other two candidates won 4.3 percent and 3.2 percent of the votes respectively in the poll dismissed as a “farce” by the main opposition and the West.