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Syrians vote in local elections for first time in seven years

ALMOST 40,000 candidates stood as Syria held its first local elections in seven years today, with the government having retaken control of large parts of the country.

Polling took place in 6,551 election stations as Syrians cast their votes for candidates contesting 18,478 seats on local administrative councils.

The SANA news agency reported “a good turnout” in the election with President Bashar al-Assad’s Ba’ath Party, which has dominated Syrian politics since the 1960s, expected to perform well.

Syria held parliamentary elections in 2016 and a presidential election in 2014 which was won by Mr Assad. The EU and US dismissed that election as a sham, as did the Gulf Co-operation Council, all of whose members are authoritarian monarchies.

Prime Minister Imad Khamis said the elections “sent a message to the world that Syria had defeated terrorism and the country has returned to normalcy”.

Mr Khamis explained that the return of life to the city of Daraya — a former jihadist stronghold — and the elections “prove to the entire world the truth of what the Syrian state is doing in all areas liberated from terrorism and the great steps it is taking to return services and reconstruction.”

Voting did not take place in Idlib province, where Syrian government forces are said to be planning a major offensive against jihadist groups backed by Turkey.

In northern Syria, talks are ongoing between the government and Kurdish representatives over the status of the de facto semi-autonomous enclave known as Rojava/Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS).

Kurds want self-administration and the recognition of minority rights as part of a federal Syria and held elections across the cantons that make up the DFNS last year.

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