Despite the postponement of the local elections in the Autonomous Administration areas of North and East Syria from June 11 to August, the revised date will also change.
According to leaks obtained by “Alarabiya.net” today, Wednesday, from high-level sources in the Autonomous Administration, which includes parts of Aleppo and Deir Ez-Zor provinces and the entire provinces of Raqqa and Hasakah—excluding two towns captured by Turkey in late October 2019—the intention is to delay the elections further.
A high-ranking official in the Autonomous Administration stated that the parties within the administration are once again urging the High Electoral Commission for the region to postpone the local elections across all their areas until another date, when local, regional, and international conditions are conducive to conducting them.
The official noted that the demand from the parties to the High Electoral Commission to postpone the elections until favorable conditions prevail is due to the current situation in Syria generally, and in the northeast particularly. Turkey is currently attempting to restore relations with the Syrian government in Damascus and threatens a new invasion of the region. The parties within the Autonomous Administration, through their request to postpone the elections for the second time, aim to protect their gains and block those they refer to as “the predators” of the Autonomous Administration, according to an official leaked document obtained by “Alarabiya.net.”
It was originally planned that these local elections would be held on June 11, then they were postponed to August before the parties within the Autonomous Administration once again called for a second postponement today. The Autonomous Administration linked the initial postponement to a lack of time, but the announcement coincided with new Turkish military threats of invasion.
The United States had previously urged the administration not to proceed with these elections, which would have involved electing mayors in its regions, through its embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
