MOSCOW, May 30. /ITAR-TASS/. Representatives of the Russian Central Elections Commission (CEC) will be sent as observers to Syrian presidential elections which are due on June 3.

CEC member Anton Lopatin and deputy head of the foreign relations department of the CEC staff Igor Yevlanov will monitor the presidential elections at Syria’s invitation, the CEC press service reported.

The CEC delegation will operate in a group of observers from both houses of Russian parliament.

“As Syria finds a mission of Russian international observers important, a meeting is planned with participants of the election process and election organizers during their stay in Syria,” the press service said.

Three candidates are running in presidential elections, namely incumbent President Bashar Assad, lawmaker from the Popular Front for Change and Liberation bloc Maher Abdul-Hafiz Hajjar and liberally minded businessman and former state minister who heads now the National Initiative for Reforms Hassan al-Nouri.

On Thursday, May 28, Syrian citizens living abroad voted at embassies in a total of 38 countries, including a polling station at the country’s embassy in Moscow. However, Syrian largest communities in France, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain and the United States were stripped of an opportunity to vote at elections over a ban imposed by authorities of these countries. Meanwhile, Syrian citizens working in the Gulf States where embassies of the country are closed do not have an opportunity to exercise their constitutional suffrage right.