Syrians go to polls inparliamentary elections against the backdrop of a generally-holding ceasefire in the war-hit country and peace talks between government and opposition.
Polling stations opened at 07:00 a.m. local time(0400 GMT), with theofficial SANA news agency saying theywill remain open until 7 p.m. (1800 GMT).
Voting, it said, could beextended for five hours by the Higher Judicial Committee for Elections depending on the turnout which it reported high at the opening hours.
Syrians are lining up to cast their vote at a polling station in Homs, April 13, 2016.More than 7,300 polling stations have been set up across the government-held regions in the country to gather votes.Syrian voters areelecting members of the 250-seat parliament out of some 3,500 candidates.
Voters are waiting for a polling station to open in the capital Damascus, April 13, 2016.A number of opposition parties are running in the race, but theruling Ba'ath party is expected to prevail. Armed opposition groups have boycotted the vote and called itillegitimate.The polls coincide with the beginning of a second round of UN-brokered indirect talks between the Syrian government and the opposition in Geneva, with the future of President Bashar al-Assad being a key sticking point.
Syrians are casting their ballots at a polling station in Aleppo, April 13, 2016.The negotiations areexpected tofocus on finding a roadmap to peace, aimed at ending the five-year conflict in the Arab country.The last round of the UN-backed peace talks for Syria came to a halt on March 24 over disagreements on the role of Assad in Syrias future.
Syrians are voting at a polling station in Hasaka, April 13, 2016.The foreign-backed Syrian opposition says Assad must step down before a transitional government can be established.The Syrian government says the vote, which is held in areas controlled by Damascus, is constitutional and separate from the talks in Geneva.
Voters are casting their ballots at a polling station in Hama, April 13, 2016.Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 270,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Some reports, however, put the death toll at as high as 470,000.By Press TV
