Syrian President Bashar Assad may have thought that his call this week for a referendum on a new constitution on Feb. 26 was perfectly tailored to meet one of the opposition’s key demands. But to expect the population to fully digest the implications of such constitutional changes in just 10 days under the current circumstances is naively optimistic.

The U.S. has slammed the plan as “laughable” and the Syrian opposition movement has rejected the proposal, urging supporters to boycott the plebiscite.

What did Assad expect? Does he think that voters in Homs and Hama, in Aleppo and Zabadani, in Deraa, Idlib and the suburbs of Damascus – people that have seen months of intensifying crackdowns by government forces result in the deaths of thousands of their family members and loved ones, and where lawlessness rules – would be able to make it to the polls, let alone happily accept this latest concession?

After 40 years of a constitution which protected the one-party system, the regime expects voters to accept as democratic a new constitution which they have been given very little time to comprehend – and one that was created by those very people who have benefited from the old ways for so long.

With no real elections in 58 years, the government expects the population, half of whose only current concern is how to survive from one day to the next, to go out and vote.

Is this merely an attempt to convince the world that the regime has real democratic intentions? That it is in fact the opposition who is not listening?

Anyone who is against Assad will follow the opposition’s suggestion and boycott the entire thing; turnout will be low and any result will be unrepresentative of sentiments on the ground.

Many, whether within Syria or outside, are skeptical that this latest proposal is little more than a way to appease the Russians, Assad’s long-standing allies who are now themselves anxious for reform in the face of condemnation for their close friendship with Syria.

And whether at home, in the Arab world or globally, Assad’s opponents will not be convinced that this proposal will lead to proper, wide-ranging reforms, that a new constitution will go any way toward changing the reality on the ground.

It is possibly too late for Assad to talk about voting. If this new constitution or these promised reforms had been put on the table a year ago, after the first wave of protests last spring, it may just have worked. There may have been a hope, however small, of genuine implementation and that the move would lead to a democratic system, with fair elections and a free press. That it would allow the Syrian people to take part in a real reform process and the development of a new country.

But most of all, it would have saved the lives of thousands of Syrians.