Syrians Vote to Elect New Parliament
More than 2,000 candidates, including businessmen, will be running in the legislative election on Sunday - the third since the start of a foreign-backed war in 2011.
The elections, originally scheduled to be held in April, were postponed twice due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, two blasts struck the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing one and injuring another, on the eve of the country's third war-time parliamentary polls.
The Saturday blasts hit an area near Anas bin Malik mosque in the Nahr Aisha district of southern Damascus, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.
The mosque is where Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has attended prayers in the past.
No group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks.
Assad's Baath party and its allies are expected to win most of parliament's 250 seats in the first elections since 2016.
For the first time this year, there will be polling stations in former militant-held regions, including in the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus and in the south of Idlib province in the country's northwest, AFP reports.
The Sunday elections were initially scheduled for April 13, but was first adjourned to May and then to July over the Coronavirus outbreak.
