Nada Bakri on Syria

Take this passage:  "Activists, however, said that turnout was high only among those who support the government of President Bashar al-Assad and that most Syrians abstained from voting. In some areas, they said, residents were forced to head to polling stations."  Wait. So turnout was high among those who support the regime, but some were forced to vote? How was that? What was the mechanism of forcing them to vote? Don't we need an explanation for that beyond what "activists" have told Ms. Bakri?   This is below the minimum standards of basic journalism.  You think that the foreign editor of the New York Times would allow anything to pass that is attributed to "Palestinian activists said...."