Closed captioning of: Syria prepares to vote
>>>
another hot spot tonight,
syria
, where at assad regime held a referendum on a new constitution. a desperate attempt to cling to power. that move being dismissed by secretary of state
hillary clinton
as a sham, a cynical ploy, she said, to justify the crackdown on dissent. meantime, the fighting continues and tonight dozens more are dead. we get our report from our chief foreign correspondent
richard engel
near the turkey/
syria
border.
>> reporter:
this referendum is effectively a yes/no vote on new articles of the
syrian constitution
, and amendments that, in principle, sound very good. they end the syrieeryrian baff party, the syrian government is presenting this as the centerpiece of its reform program, a program that has been called for by the syrian opposition and members of the
international community
. the problem is the syrian opposition has absolutely no confidence that any of these changes will actually be implemented. and the referendum is taking place amid ongoing violence. at least 20 more people were killed in
syria
today. the
red cross
has been unable to reach the hardest hit parts of the city of homs, so a referendum is taking place, but a war is taking place at the same time. lester?
“ ”