Opposition chiefs blast ‘charade’ of Syrian vote

JEDDAH: Syrians voted for a new parliament on Sunday in elections denounced by exiled opposition leaders as a farce and a charade.

Regime leader Bashar Assad’s Baath Party and its allies will win almost all 250 seats in the third poll since the civil war began in 2011. Millions of Syrian refugees and those in opposition-held territory did not vote.

The election took place against a background of a collapsing economy, crippling international economic sanctions, and the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.