Today, Sunday, Syrian voters in the regime-controlled areas cast their votes in legislative elections that take place after 4 years in which field equations on the ground changed in favor of the Damascus regime.
1658 candidates are contesting the race to reach parliament, in every 4 years, and it is always won by the ruling Baath Party, led by President Bashar al-Assad, in the absence of any actual opposition on the ground.
Polling stations - numbering more than 7,400 - were opened in regime-controlled areas at seven o'clock in the morning, and polling stations were designated for people from areas still outside of Damascus's control.
These elections are the third to be held after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, and have been postponed twice since last April, following the impact of measures to tackle the new Corona virus.
Syrians outside the country - and among them millions of refugees - cannot participate in the polls, as well as those residing in opposition-held areas, and most of them believe that what is taking place is only a play that is known in advance and is not concerned with it.
The People's Assembly has 250 seats, half of which are allocated to workers and peasants, and the other half to the rest of the people.
In 2016, the participation rate in the legislative elections was 57.56% out of 8.83 million voters.
Since the 2016 elections, the regime forces - with the support of their allies Russia and Iran - have regained control of large areas, including important strongholds of the opposition factions, from the eastern neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo (north) to Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, north of Homs, and the entire provinces of Daraa and Quneitra in the south, as they have finally controlled About half of Idlib Governorate (northwest), after successive attacks.
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The Syrian opposition outside the country described the elections as "theatrical".
The head of the Syrian opposition coalition, Nasr Al-Hariri, told Al-Jazeera that these elections are taking place in the presence of more than 13 million displaced and internally displaced persons and half a million disappeared and forcibly detained.
Al-Hariri explained that holding these elections in these circumstances is a confirmation from the Syrian regime of its rejection of any attempt to enter into a comprehensive political process that would achieve stability in Syria.
For its part, the self-administration announced in the areas of control of what is known as the Syrian Democratic Forces that the elections would not take place in its areas of north-eastern Syria.
With the approaching of the presidential elections in the summer of 2021, a benefit that the country will witness every 7 years; There are many analyzes of whether Syria is heading towards a political settlement, after years in which several rounds of negotiations led by the United Nations have made no progress.
Explosions
on the eve of the elections, two explosions in Damascus killed one person and wounded another, according to the official Syrian News Agency (SANA).
In another incident, the Al-Jazeera correspondent said that 5 civilians were killed and 85 wounded by a car bomb explosion in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
The reporter added that the explosion occurred when trucks heading to Turkey gathered near the gate of the Bab Al-Salama border crossing, and that it resulted in a great destruction of civilian property.
The areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in the northern and eastern countryside of Aleppo are constantly attacked by car bombs and explosive devices.