Syria holds parliamentary vote with no surprises expected

Syrians in government-held areas headed to the polls on Monday to elect a new parliament, a vote expected to yield few surprises and labeled a farce by political opposition groups.

Voters were electing 250 lawmakers to parliament, which has little real power in Syria's presidential system, with two-thirds of seats reserved for members of President Bashar al-Assad's Baath party.

More than 13 years after the onset of the Syrian civil war, Assad's government controls most of Syria after Iran and Russia helped him beat back rebel groups. 

The north-east remains held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, and Islamist and Turkish-backed rebels hold parts of the north-west, while more than 5 million Syrians are refugees abroad and unable to vote.

At a Damascus polling center, government employee Bassem Badran said he hoped the new chamber would help improve the economic situation.

The Istanbul-based Syrian Negotiation Commission that represents a broad coalition of mainstream opposition groups echoed a widespread sentiment by Assad opponents that the elections were a sham.

"Everything that the regime does in these theatrical parliamentary elections is a sham to reproduce itself as a totalitarian and authoritarian system," said Mohamad Muthhar Shorbaji, a member of the SNC, in a statement on social media.

"Syria won't become a real state except by parliamentary and presidential elections that are within the framework of a political settlement according to UN resolution 2254," he said, referring to a resolution unanimously passed by the UN Security Council in 2015 calling for a ceasefire.


Reuters