"I would hope that it would be possible to have a plebiscite or an election, which is properly supervised by the UN, and in which all the 11 million IDPs, internally displaced persons, including the 4 million who are outside Syria who are fully entitled to vote," Johnson said while being questioned in the House of Lords International Relations Committee.
The UK foreign secretary stressed that such a democratic procedure would be the only way forward out of the current situation and thus necessarily be a part of any political solution for the war-torn country.
The Syrian crisis erupted in 2011 and has resulted in some 13.5 million people in need of urgent aid, most of these displaced, according to UN figures. The latest ceasefire was strengthened at the Astana peace talks between government and opposition representatives. The Astana negotiations will be followed by a UN-mediated meeting in Geneva expected to take place on February 8.
