No surprises expected as Syrians vote in parliamentary poll

Syrians in government-held areas were voting Monday in their fourth parliamentary election since civil war erupted in 2011, a poll expected to keep President Bashar al-Assad's ruling Baath party in power.

While voting was calm in most areas, a war monitor and a local media outlet reported protests against the election in southern Sweida province, the heartland of Syria's Druze minority, which has seen regular demonstrations for almost a year.

The Baath party -- in power since 1963 -- and its secular left-wing and Arab nationalist allies are running virtually unopposed in the vote, with independents the only alternative.

More than 1,500 people are standing for 250 seats in the largely rubber-stamp parliament, according to Syria's Supreme Judicial Elections Committee.

The presidency published images of Assad voting at a polling booth in Damascus, one of some 8,150 voting stations in government-held areas.

His Baath party is expected to secure most of the seats in the legislative ballot, which is held every four years.

Health ministry employee Bodoor Abu Ghazaleh, 49, was among dozens voting at a booth in Damascus.

"We have to take responsibility for electing good people and not repeating the mistakes of the past in voting for old names who can't change anything," she said.

- Protests in south -

In southern Sweida province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said demonstrators attacked polling centres in several towns and villages.

Since 2020, protests against deteriorating economic conditions have erupted sporadically in Sweida, with the latest wave starting in August last year after the government cut fuel subsidies.

Demonstrators' demands have included "the fall of the regime".

"Some protesters smashed or set fire to ballot boxes," said the Britain-based Observatory monitoring Syria's 13-year-long conflict.

Footage posted on social media by local news outlet Suwayda24 showed dozens of protesters in Sweida city, one holding a sign reading "Only the corrupt vote for the corrupt".

"There is no place for this ruling gang in Syrians' present and future. Enough, leave," another read.

Suwayda24 said one person was wounded after security forces shot "randomly" as a demonstration was taking place in the city, while a video taken elsewhere in the province showed people throwing ballots on the ground or tearing them up.

Syrian security services have a limited presence in the province, where Damascus has turned a blind eye to tens of thousands of Druze men refusing to undertake compulsory military service.

- 'Absurd' -

With help from key allies Iran and Russia, Damascus has regained control of much of the territory it lost early in Syria's civil war, which began in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests.

It spiralled into a complex conflict drawing in foreign armies and jihadists, and has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.

Syrians living in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, in areas held by Ankara-backed rebels along the northern border with Turkey, and in the jihadist-run Idlib bastion in the northwest are effectively disenfranchised.

Candidates are still vying for seats in those regions, but only voters living in government-held areas can cast ballots at specially designated polling stations.

Polling stations are set to remain open until 7:00 pm (1600 GMT).

Millions of Syrians who have sought refuge abroad during the conflict also have no vote.

Syria's exiled opposition last week condemned the election as "absurd", saying that polls organised by the government "only represent the ruling authority", in the absence of a political settlement to the conflict.

United Nations-backed attempts to reach a political settlement have repeatedly failed, and talks since 2019 on revising the country's constitution have also stalled.