Kurds opt out of first local elections in Syria since 2011

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria held its first municipal elections since 2011 on Sunday, amid tensions with the country's self-administered Kurdish region, which refused to allow polls. A vast majority of the candidates in Sunday's polls were members of the ruling Baath party or affiliated to it, which deterred some people from casting their ballots. Polling booths opened at 7am (04:00 GMT) on Sunday across government-held parts of the country where more than 40,000 candidates would compete for 18,478 seats on local administrative councils. It held parliamentary elections in 2016 and a presidential vote in 2014 that renewed Assad's reign for another seven years

Syrians in government-controlled areas cast their ballots on Sunday in the first local elections there since 2011, when the country's ill-fated uprising erupted against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
Local elections are held in government-held areas of Syria for the first time since 2011.