SYRIA: Syrians vote in first local elections since 2011

Syrians in government-controlled areas have cast their ballots in the first local elections since anti-government protests in 2011 spiralled into a full-blown war between rebels, government troops and foreign backers. Polling booths opened at 7am local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday across government-held parts of the country where more than 40,000 candidates would compete for […]

Syrians in government-controlled areas have cast their ballots in the first local elections since anti-government protests in 2011 spiralled into a full-blown war between rebels, government troops and foreign backers.
Polling booths opened at 7am local time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday across government-held parts of the country where more than 40,000 candidates would compete for 18,478 seats on local administrative councils.
Syrian state television broadcast footage of voters around Damascus and in the coastal government bastions of Tartus and Latakia. They dropped their ballots into plastic boxes as election officials looked on. The channel also showed images of voting in Deir Az Zor, the eastern city recaptured in full last year by Syrian troops after fierce battles against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.