Damascus, Jul. 18, (dpa/GNA) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s party and its allies have swept an expected majority of seats in the war-torn country’s parliamentary election.

The so-called “National Unity” list gained a total of 194 seats in the 250-member assembly, including 178 for al-Assad’s Baath party, sources in the election committee said.

The remaining 56 seats went to self-styled independent candidates.

The Supreme Judicial Committee for Elections in Syria said that the voter participation in the July 15 polls reached 38.16% of the eligible electorate.

Head of the electoral committee, Judge Jihad Murad, said the panel “was keen to provide a democratic atmosphere by taking all necessary measures to ensure the freedom of voters and the integrity of the elections.”

He put the number of eligible voters at more than 19 million and said more than 7 million cast their ballots.

It was the fourth parliamentary election since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Only residents in government-controlled areas voted in the polls that the opposition dismissed as a “farce,” claiming the polls were aimed to help shore up al-Assad’s standing.

In the 2020 legislative elections, Assad’s Baath won 166 seats, in addition to 17 others by allied parties, while 67 seats went to independents.

GNA