Local committees in Syria cast their ballots for members of a transitional parliament in a process criticised as undemocratic, with a third of the new lawmakers to be appointed directly by interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The assembly's formation is expected to consolidate the power of Sharaa, whose Islamist forces led a coalition that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war.
Members of the local committees queued up to vote at Syria's National Library, formerly the Assad National Library, with the electoral commission saying in the evening that "the voting has ended and the counting is underway".
A member of the Damascus elections committee told AFP that while some early results could trickle in Sunday night, the final list of winners was not due until Monday.
Around 6,000 people took part in Sunday's selection process.
According to the commission, more than 1,500 candidates -- just 14 percent of them women -- are running for the assembly, which will have a renewable 30-month mandate.
Sharaa is to appoint 70 representatives to the 210-member body.
The other two-thirds are being selected by local committees appointed by the electoral commission, which itself was appointed by Sharaa.
But southern Syria's Druze-majority Sweida province, which suffered sectarian bloodshed in July, and the country's Kurdish-held northeast are excluded from the process for now as they are outside Damascus's control, and their 32 seats will remain empty.
"I support the authorities and I'm ready to defend them, but these aren't real elections," said Louay al-Arfi, 77, a retired civil servant sitting with friends at a Damascus cafe.
"It's a necessity in the transitional phase, but we want direct elections" to follow, he told AFP.
The new authorities dissolved Syria's rubber-stamp legislature after taking power.
Under a temporary constitution announced in March, the incoming parliament will exercise legislative functions until a permanent constitution is adopted and new elections are held.
Sharaa has said it would be impossible to organise direct elections now, pointing to the large number of Syrians who lack documentation after millions fled abroad or were displaced internally during the civil war.
Speaking from the National Library on Sunday, Sharaa appeared to acknowledge criticism of the process, saying that while "it is true that the electoral process is incomplete... it is a moderate process that is appropriate for the current situation and circumstances in Syria".
- 'Not elections' -
Under the rules of the selection process, candidates must not be "supporters of the former regime" and must not promote secession or partition.
Those running include Syrian-American Henry Hamra, the first Jewish candidate since the 1940s.
"The next parliament faces significant responsibilities, including signing and ratifying international agreements. This will lead Syria into a new phase, and it is a major responsibility," said Hala al-Qudsi, a member of Damascus's electoral committee who is running for a seat herself.
Rights groups have criticised the selection process, saying it concentrates power in Sharaa's hands and lacks representation for the country's ethnic and religious minorities.
In a joint statement last month, more than a dozen groups said the process means Sharaa "can effectively shape a parliamentary majority composed of individuals he selected or ensured loyalty from".
"You can call the process what you like, but not elections," said Bassam Alahmad, executive director of the France-based Syrians for Truth and Justice, one of the groups that signed the statement.
At a meeting in Damascus this week, candidate Mayssa Halwani, 48, said such criticism was normal.
"The government is new to power and freedom is new for us," she said.
Nishan Ismail, 40, a teacher in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, said "elections could have been a new political start" after Assad's fall, but "the marginalisation of numerous regions shows that the standards of political participation are not respected".
Negotiations on integrating the Kurds' civil and military institutions into the new central government have stalled, with Damascus rejecting calls for decentralisation.
Badran Jia Kurd, an official with the Kurdish administration in the northeast, argued on X on Sunday evening that the selection process "aims to legitimise a temporary authority that does not represent the entire population, risking further divisions and fragmentation of the country".
In southern Syria's Druze-majority city of Sweida, activist Burhan Azzam, 48, also took issue with the process.
The authorities "have ended political life" in Syria, he said, adding that the selection process "doesn't respect the basic rules of democracy".
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