Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas of the country on Wednesday in what they called a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad, while his opponents and Western powers denounced the poll as illegitimate.
The election went ahead independently of a U.N.-led peace process aimed at ending the five-year-long war. A second round of talks began in Geneva on Wednesday but an upsurge in fighting has darkened the already bleak outlook for diplomacy.
The government said the vote was held to comply with the constitution, a view echoed by its Russian allies.
The opposition, which wants the new peace talks to focus on a political transition, said the election was meaningless, while Britain and France called it a "flimsy facade" and a "sham".
Voters were electing 250 MPs to parliament, which has no real power in Syria's presidential system. The state rallied them with the slogan "Your vote strengthens your steadfastness".
"Assad is already strong but these elections show that the people support him and bolster him," said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence in Damascus.
Dozens queued to vote at one polling station where a portrait of Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced.
With his wife Asma at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had been able to destroy much of Syria's infrastructure but not Syria's "social structure, the national identity".
Asaad al-Zoubi, chief negotiator for the main opposition body, the High Negotiations Council. dismissed the polls: "They are illegitimate - theater for the sake of procrastination."
The conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and created millions of refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and the Islamic State group. The government views all the groups fighting it as terrorists.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN0XA2C5
