Syria's higher constitutional court on Monday selected two obscure figures to appear on ballots standing against President Bashar al-Assad in a May 26 election which the West rejects as a farce that will hurt diplomatic efforts to end the civil war.
From a list of 51 potential candidates, the court approved just three: Assad, former deputy cabinet minister Abdallah Saloum Abdallah, and Mahmoud Ahmed Marei, head of a small, officially sanctioned opposition party.