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1st LD: Syrian parliamentary elections begin amid opposition boycott

Xinhua, April 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Syria's parliamentary elections began on Wednesday, with some 3,500 candidates vying for the 250 parliamentary seats amid a boycott by opposition groups.

A total of 7,300 polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) in government-controlled areas across the country, the national Syrian TV said.

Authorities said the elections will continue till 7 p.m. Wednesday, adding that the balloting could be extended for five hours depending on the turnout.

Election sub-committees in government-controlled provinces announced full readiness to facilitate the voting process.

In the capital Damascus alone, there are close to 1,500 polling centers in addition to 540 polling stations for people from the provinces of Deir al-Zour, al-Raqqa, Idlib, Aleppo, and Daraa, which are largely not controlled by the government.

In February, President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree to hold a parliamentary election on April 13.

The Syrian government said the elections are set for the usual time as Syrian government holds such elections every four years.

The last parliamentarian elections were held in 2012, just months after the adoption of a new constitution in the war-torn country.

In the current and the last elections, the opposition announced a boycott.

Munther Khaddam, a member of the National Coordination Body (NCB) said his group will boycott the elections for the second time "because it comes in the abnormal context and runs against the political track of the Geneva talks."

Arafat, a member of the opposition Popular Front for Change and Liberation, also said his group will boycott the elections.

"The elections at this very time send very negative messages, especially that the talks in Geneva are now focused on forming a new government, so why making parliament elections that could be repeated soon after the formation of a new government," he said.

However, the decision to hold the elections was interpreted by government loyalists as evidence that Damascus still has its independent decision, and that the elections and the Geneva talks, which are set to resume soon, are two separate tracks.P Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said ahead of the elections that the elections for the people's assembly are a "constitutional entitlement," adding that they send messages in the country and abroad.

"The election day will be an exceptional one in the political life of the Syrians who want a true opportunity to express their stance after five years of the war on Syria," he told the national TV.

Al-Zoubi said that the political process that is being discussed in Geneva is separate from the constitutional entitlement and that the current constitution should be valid until it is replaced by a new one.

In Damascus, streets have been festooned with posters of the candidates, as part of the government encouragement for the people to vote.

However, and unlike the pre-war times, when the candidates used to erect election tents to explain their programs to the people, the residents in the capital and elsewhere only know the candidates by their posters this year, as the sessions for the candidates to present their programs have been canceled for security reasons. Endi