Counting continued on Monday in Syria after voters cast their votes to choose a new parliament for the war-torn and economically troubled country.

The election took place in Syria on Sunday without any real opposition to President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath Party.

According to a member in the election committee, mainly 90 per cent of the counting of ballots in major areas has been concluded.

According to the Syrian State News Agency (SANA), the election Committee announced that the vote in five polling stations, two in Aleppo, two in countryside of Aleppo and one in Deir Ezzor in Eastern Syria, will be re-run.

However, the opposition had since described the elections as farce.

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According to George Sabra, a leading opposition figure and former Head of the Syrian National Council, these elections are mockery.

“This is an election which is not abiding by any norms of any constitution; the ruling class are mainly electing themselves,“he said.

It is the country’s third such poll since a pro-democracy uprising erupted against al-Assad in 2011.

The one-day vote had been postponed twice since April due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to local witnesses, voter turnout was low in different government-controlled areas.

The elections came barely more than a month after new sanctions imposed by the U.S. came into effect on key figures in the Syrian regime and amid a deepening economic crisis.

SANA reported that about 1,656 candidates, including 200 women, were standing for the 250-strong parliament. Most contenders belong to the ruling Baath party and loyal groups.

However, official results were expected by Tuesday.

Al-Assad’s Baath Party and its allies are anticipated to win the majority of seats in the parliament elected for a four-year mandate.

DPA

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