A staff member sprays disinfectant on the hands of a voter during the parliamentary elections in Damascus, capital of Syria, on July 19, 2020. The parliamentary elections in Syria kicked off on Sunday, the third elections during the more than nine-year-long war, amid the participation of President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)
DAMASCUS, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The parliamentary elections in Syria kicked off on Sunday, the third elections during the more than nine-year-long war, amid the participation of President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma.
A total of 7,277 polling stations opened across the government-controlled areas on Sunday as voters are having the chance to vote for 1,656 candidates for the 250-seat parliament.
Both the president and his wife were seen wearing masks and casting their ballots at a polling center in the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.
The Syrian government now controls around 70 percent of the Syrian territory while ultra-radical rebels control the Idlib Province in northwestern Syria and the U.S.-backed Kurdish militia of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control areas in northeastern Syria.
