News / Interviews

Syria election sign of democratic reform: Analyst

Sunday, 16 September 2018 12:29 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 16 September 2018 5:40 PM ]

A man casts his ballot for Syria's first local elections since 2011, on September 16, 2018 in the southern Eastern Ghouta, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus. (Photo by AFP)

An analyst believes the local elections in Syria are a sign of ongoing democratic reforms in the war-torn Arab country.

“These elections, they demonstrate the fact that Syria is going ahead with its reforms, the democratic reforms that they talked about in 2010, in 2011, that the US government and its allies’ – NATO and the [P]GCC – claims were fake and [President Bashar] al-Assad attempts to stay in power but the promises are being fulfilled, elections are ongoing in spite of the West’s claims that Syrian democracy does not exist and they need US bombs to give them freedom,” Mimi al-Laham told Press TV in an interview on Sunday.

Syrians have begun voting in the country's first local elections since 2011 in a sign of returning security and normalcy after years of fighting with foreign-backed militants.

The elections are being held at a time when Syrian army troops and allied fighters control some two-thirds of the country following the recent advances in southern areas and Damascus suburbs.