Low turnout for the Syrian elections in the Kurdish region amid remarkable security deployment 

Shafaq News / The polling process in the Syrian presidential election began in the security squares controlled by the regime in al-Hasakah and al-Qamishli in the Autonomous Administration region in north and east Syria.

Hours ago, electoral centers in the Kurdish region witnessed a weak turnout amid a security deployment and a heavy presence of supporters of the Syrian Baath Party.

Shafaq News Agency correspondent in al-Qamishli reported that the regime had limited the number of electoral centers in the areas under its control to 69 in Al-Hasakah, 88 centers in al-Qamishli and its countryside, in addition to the centers of the Syrian army and internal security forces.

Al-Qamishli witnessed a low turnout, as the process was limited to regime loyalists, members of the security services, members of the Baath Party, and government employees who fear accountability if they do not participate in the elections.

In Al-Hasakah, the situation was not much different from al-Qamishli, as the polling stations witnessed low turnout and limited participation by the city's residents.

Major General Ghassan Khalil, Governor of al-Hasakah, said that the city witnessed today "a great turnout of citizens from various areas of the governorate to contribute to the presidential elections' success."

The regime has always forced employees and university students to vote in order to increase the participation rate in the elections.

In addition to Assad, the two candidates running for the presidential race are former Minister of State Abdullah Salloum Abdullah (2016-2020), who was a representative twice, and lawyer Mahmoud Merhi. He was one of the internal opposition's representatives that participated in a negotiations round sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva