Kurds in Syria to hold second phase of elections

Kurdish authorities in northern Syria announced on Saturday that the second phase of elections in the region will take place on 1 December.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

26 November, 2017

Kurdish groups in northern Syria control around 25 percent of the country. [Getty]

Kurdish authorities in northern Syria announced on Saturday that the second phase of elections in the region will take place on 1 December.

Residents of Kurdish-majority areas of northern Syria in September voted in the region's first local elections as part of a push to cement a semi-autonomous regional government.

Voters picked leaders for around 3,700 communes spread across the north in what was the first stage in a three-part election process to select district, municipal and regional representatives.

The elections will culminate with the selection of an assembly in January that will serve as a parliament for a federal system of government in northern Syria.

Ibrahim Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish party, said the second phase of the elections in December would be for local town and city councils, with more than 30 parties and entities participating.

The plans for autonomous zones in northern Syria have encountered broad opposition from the United States, neighbouring Turkey, and the Syrian government in Damascus.

Syrian Kurds say their aim is to preserve their autonomy as part of a decentralised Syria, and they do not aim to follow the path of Kurds in Iraq.

Earlier in November a top adviser to Assad said that what happened to Iraqi Kurdistan "should be a lesson" to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), adding that no government "can discuss with any group when it comes to the topic of the country's unity".

Kurdish groups in northern Syria have carved out self-governing autonomous regions since early in Syria's six-year civil war and control around 25 percent of the country.