Syria holds third parliamentary elections since repression of anti-regime protests escalated into a civil war in 2011
A picture taken on July 15, 2020, shows campaign posters of candidates for the Syria's parliamentary elections in the capital Damascus.
Regime leader Bashar al Assad's Baath party and its allies are expected to take most of parliament's 250 seats in the third such polls to be held since the war started nine years ago. The elections, twice postponed from April due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, come at a time when most Syrians are worried about the soaring cost of living.Many candidates are running on programmes pledging to tackle inflation and improve infrastructure ravaged by the conflict.
But for the first time, voting will take place in territory retaken by the regime, including in the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus and in the south of Idlib province in the country's northwest. In a country where more than 80 percent of people already live in poverty, the UN food agency has warned that Syrians are now facing an "unprecedented hunger crisis".
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