(19 Jul 2020) There was a low turnout for the Syrian election in Qamishli and Hasaka on Sunday - both government held provinces.
The Kurdish Regional Self-rule Administration decided to boycott the election in the north east of the country.
Voters in Qamishli cast their ballots in an area under the control of the Syrian government in the heart of the city.
The majority of the surrounding areas in the region are under Kurdish control.
"It is a democratic election and the candidates are representing all sects of Syrian people and they are representing the Syrian geographical areas. We hope they can represent and demand the rights of this nation," said a voter from Qamishli.
Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife, Asma, both wearing masks, voted in Damascus, early on Sunday, at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.
The vote is the third to take place in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011.
The conflict has killed more than 400,000, displaced half the country's population and sent more than five million as refugees, mostly into neighbouring countries.
The vote this year follows a new wave of US sanctions that came into effect last month and a campaign to fight corruption that saw a wealthy cousin of Assad come under pressure to pay back tens of millions of dollars to the state.
Some 1,658 government approved candidates are running this year for the 250-seat People's Assembly.
The total number of eligible voters hasn't been announced.
As in previous votes in Syria, the vote was expected to produce a rubber-stamp body loyal to the president.
Assad has twice postponed the country's parliamentary elections this year in light of restrictions in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Assad himself is not standing for election.
Syria, that had a pre-war population of 22 million, has reported 496 cases of infections and 25 deaths because of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
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