"Syria's upcoming parliamentary election will exclude three minority-dominated regions due to security concerns and absence of central control, Hassan al-Daghim, the spokesperson for the higher electoral commission based in Damascus, recently told Syria's national news agency SANA. Al-Daghim explained that elections in the Druze-majority province of Sweida, as well as in the Kurdish-dominated regions of Hassakeh and Raqqa, will be postponed until "circumstances allow.""
"Jerome Drevon, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that "for now, the representatives of these regions prefer to be outside the state and as they do not recognize the government, they are not taking the seats designated for them." Speaking to DW from Damascus, he said that in his view it is credible that interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa will not redistribute their seats but make their participation in the vote dependent on their decision to recognize the Damascus government."
Three provinces dominated by Druze and Kurdish populations—Sweida, Hassakeh and Raqqa—will be excluded from the upcoming parliamentary vote because of security concerns and absence of central control. The vote scheduled for September 15-20 can only be conducted in areas fully under government control, and the seats allocated to those provinces, representing more than five million people, will remain vacant until elections can be held there. Analysts say representatives of those regions prefer distance from the state and are not taking designated seats, and that participation may be made conditional on recognition of the Damascus government. The Kurdish-led AANES described the exclusion as undemocratic, saying labeling the regions unsafe was used to justify denial for over five million Syrians.
Read at www.dw.com
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