DHAKA: Four new candidates have submitted applications to run for Syria’s presidency in elections that are expected to return president Bashar al-Assad to power next month.

The parliamentary speaker said Tuesday, reports daily Hurriyet.

Mohamed al-Lahham announced the names of the four new candidates, among them a woman and a Christian, in a session of parliament in the capital Damascus.

The new candidates bring the number of people seeking to run for president in the June 3 elections to 11, including Assad, who announced his candidacy on Monday.

The four new hopefuls are Ali Wanous, Azza Mohamed, Talea Salah Nasser and Samih Mikhael Moussa.

Like most of the candidates so far announced, they are relatively unknown.

Mohamed’s application brings the number of women competing in the vote to two.

Syria’s constitution requires that candidates for the presidency be Muslim, but a source in the constitutional court confirmed that Moussa is Christian.

‘We receive all applications for presidential candidacy and transmit them to the parliament,’ the source said.

‘In the five days after the candidacy period ends, on May 5, we will examine the candidates to see if they meet all requirements. On May 6, we will announce who has met the conditions,’ he added.

The elections, Syria’s first multi-candidate presidential vote after a constitutional amendment did away with the previous referendum system, are scheduled for June 3.

BDST: 1657 HRS, APR 29, 2014