Syrian Opposition Fighters in Damascus Vote in Parliamentary Election

An armed Syrian opposition group, which controls the city of Moadamiya in the suburbs of Damascus, took part in the parliamentary elections, one of the local candidates told Sputnik Wednesday.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — Syria is holding parliamentary elections on Wednesday with over 3,500 candidates contesting the 350 seats in Syria's parliament. Some 7,000 polling stations opened across the country at 7.00 a.m. local time (04:00 GMT). The ballot stations will close at midnight.

"The whole population of Moadamiya, even those who carry weapons, came today to vote for a list of national unity," Hassan Ghandour said.

According to Ghandour, those who came to participate in the election are tired of the civil war and want to return to peaceful life.

Ballot stations have been set up in 12 of Syria's 14 provinces, as the northern province of Raqqa is still under the control of the Islamic State jihadist group and the northwestern Idlib province is controlled by Nusra Front extremists. Both organizations are outlawed in Russia.