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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrians cast vote in first local elections since 2011, except US-backed Kurds |
| 2018-09-17 |
| [AlMasdar] Syrian citizens voted in the country’s first local elections in seven years on Sunday, when polling stations opened for the election of the Local Administration Councils. Footage from Damascus shows citizens casting their vote in the country’s first local elections since 2011. Polling stations opened at 07:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday and will close at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT). More than 40,000 candidates are competing for 18,478 seats across all of the country’s provinces, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported. US-backed Kurdish political party refuses to participate in Syrian elections [AlMasdar] The US-backed Syrian Democratic Council has refused to participate in the municipal elections taking place across Syria. The Syrian Democratic Council said it would not participate in an election under the rule of the Arab nationalist Ba’ath Party. “The regime wants us to remain under its rule and under the rule of the Baath,” the spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Council, Ibrahim Ibrahim, said on Sunday. Prior to election day, several Syrian candidates in the northwestern province of Al-Hasakah were detained by the Kurdish-led Asayish forces, causing outrage among many locals. While Damascus and the SDC are currently engaged in peace talks, both sides have yet to reach any agreement on the fate of the areas controlled by the latter. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |