Voting Begins in Hasakah, Qamishli and Ain Arab

Voting for the Syrian People’s Assembly elections began on Sunday morning, 24 May, in the areas of Hasakah and Qamishli in Hasakah governorate (northeastern Syria), alongside the start of voting in the area of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) in eastern Aleppo countryside, as part of completing the delayed stages of the electoral process in areas of northeastern Syria.

Polling centers opened their doors at 8:00 a.m., with voting scheduled to continue until 12:00 noon, and the possibility of extending the voting period by only one hour if needed.

Vote counting will begin immediately after ballot boxes close, with preliminary results to be announced as soon as counting ends at the designated centers.

Nawar Najmeh, spokesperson for the Higher Committee for the Syrian People’s Assembly Elections, said the supervisory committees conducted inspection tours of polling centers before the electoral process began, to ensure the centers were ready and that logistical requirements for voting were available.

Najmeh said the procedures included preparing secret ballot rooms, securing the requirements of the electoral process, and organizing the attendance of local and foreign media outlets to follow the course of the elections.

Polling Centers Identified

The Higher Committee for the People’s Assembly Elections issued two decisions on Friday, 22 May, identifying the polling centers for the electoral districts in Hasakah, Qamishli, and Ayn al-Arab (Kobani).

The committee approved the meeting hall in the Hasakah Governorate Administration building as the polling center for the electoral district in Hasakah, while the old cultural center, next to the Engineers Syndicate, was designated as the polling center for the Qamishli district.

The cultural center in the city of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) was also chosen as the polling center for electing People’s Assembly members representing the city’s electoral district.

The selection of these centers came days after the Higher Committee announced the final lists of candidates and members of electoral bodies in the electoral districts of Hasakah governorate, along with the Ayn al-Arab district in eastern Aleppo countryside.

Candidate Lists

On Wednesday, 20 May, the Higher Committee issued a decision containing the final lists of candidates for membership in the People’s Assembly in the electoral districts of Hasakah governorate, which included the Hasakah, Qamishli, and al-Malikiyah districts.

According to the decision, the number of candidates reached 22 within the electoral bodies, distributed as 13 candidates for the Hasakah district, seven candidates for the Qamishli district, and two candidates for the al-Malikiyah district.

The committee also announced 12 candidates for the Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) district in eastern Aleppo countryside.

Before the final lists were announced, the committee issued an additional decision adding ten names to the final list for the Qamishli electoral district, hours before the final lists were officially approved.

In a later decision, the committee set Sunday, 24 May, as the date for voting in the Hasakah and Qamishli districts, as part of completing the electoral process for areas where elections had been delayed over the past months.

Completing the Electoral Process

The Higher Committee for the People’s Assembly Elections said the final lists for electoral bodies in Hasakah and Ayn al-Arab were based on the provisions of the constitutional declaration, in addition to decrees No. 66 and No. 143 of 2025.

The committee explained that the lists were prepared in coordination with subcommittees that organized and reviewed the data of electoral bodies in the areas covered by the elections.

The Higher Committee previously issued the executive instructions for the temporary election law under decision No. 28 of 2025, dated 3 September last year.

The executive instructions included mechanisms for distributing electoral districts, forming committees and electoral bodies, and procedures for candidacy, voting, and vote counting, leading up to the first session of the new People’s Assembly.

Elections Delayed in Northeastern Syria

People’s Assembly election procedures in Hasakah governorate and the Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) area were delayed over the past months due to military and field developments in northeastern Syria since the beginning of the current year.

Since mid-January, wide areas of the eastern and southern countryside of Hasakah have come under the control of Syrian army forces. At the same time, the main cities, including Hasakah and Qamishli, as well as the subdistrict of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), remained under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Later, the agreement announced between the Syrian government and the SDF in January paved the way for steps to integrate institutions and administrations into official government structures, allowing some official departments to be gradually reactivated and opening the door to completing arrangements related to holding People’s Assembly elections in those areas.

The current elections come within the framework of implementing Syria’s approved temporary electoral system, which the Syrian government adopted last year to organize parliamentary elections across the country’s governorates.