The UN General Assembly is set to vote on Wednesday, May 15, on a draft resolution that condemns Syrian authorities and accepts the opposition Syrian National Coalition as party to a potential political transition, Reuters reported.
Russia is opposed to the resolution, which was drafted by Qatar and other Arab nations and circulated among the 193 UN member states. Some Western diplomats said it was unlikely to win as many votes as a resolution that passed last year with 133 in favor.
No country has a veto in the General Assembly.
"I'm convinced a lot of countries voted for this text because they believed they were voting for the winning side," a senior western UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in reference to the August, 2012 resolution. "They are not so sure anymore."
"Now also you have the Islamist, terrorist factor which is much more conspicuous," he said.
The vote comes as Washington and European governments have been mulling the benefits and risks of supplying arms to Syrian rebels.
Another senior UN diplomat, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said this draft resolution was stronger than the earlier resolution, prompting Russia to write to all states to complain that it was unbalanced. The diplomat said Russia had also warned that it could hinder preparations for a Syria peace conference, as agreed by Russia and the United States.
The current draft UN resolution welcomes the establishment of the Syrian National Coalition "as effective representative interlocutors needed for a political transition."
But diplomats said some countries may be concerned that the draft resolution could be considered as official UN recognition of the coalition as the representative of the Syrian people.
"It's very likely the vote will not be as high as last year," said another senior western UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But we clearly don't want the numbers to go below 100 or 110."
The Syrian National Coalition has been recognized by the 130 international representatives comprising the "Friends of Syria" group of nations and the Arab League as "the legitimate representative of the Syrian people."
