Residents of As-Suwayda province in southern Syria have renewed their peaceful popular protests demanding political change and the overthrow of the Syrian regime, which have been ongoing for almost 11 months.

Today, Friday, July 12, a central demonstration took place in al-Karama Square, the main point of protest and demonstration in the center of As-Suwayda city. During the protest, demonstrators reiterated their call to boycott the People’s Assembly elections, three days before voting, set to begin on July 15.

The Suwayda 24 network reported that the central protest in al-Karama Square was titled “Boycott the People’s Assembly Elections.”

Today’s demonstration included the recitation of popular poems, the raising of written demands on banners, and chanting slogans demanding freedom, justice, the overthrow of the regime, and boycotting the People’s Assembly elections.

The banners published by Suwayda 24 included many phrases calling for a boycott of the People’s Assembly elections, the most notable being: “The parliament is born after the overthrow of the regime,” “Boycott the Puppet Parliament Elections,” “Your Council does not represent us,” and “No legitimacy for any elections before the implementation of Resolution 2254.”

Despite residents of As-Suwayda announcing their boycott of the People’s Assembly elections, the Syrian regime has opened 268 polling centers in the province. These are distributed as follows: 71 centers in the city, 82 in the countryside, including 18 in the Mazraa district, 17 in the al-Mishnaf district, 62 in the Salkhad area, and 47 in the Shahba area, according to Suwayda 24.

As the election date approaches, the streets of As-Suwayda city are devoid of candidate posters, with their campaigns limited to sporadic family visits and posts on Facebook.

The Baath Party released its list of candidates for As-Suwayda province, including four candidates out of six seats allocated for the province. These candidates are Khaled Karbaj, who was re-nominated from the previous term, Nidal al-Ali, Waseem Ezzedine, and retired Brigadier General Hikmat Abu Ghazi.

For the remaining two seats for independents, the prominent candidates are former MPs Moein Nasr and Neshat al-Atrash.

Activists in As-Suwayda province launched a mobile media campaign, on July 1, under the slogan “No to the Elections,” rejecting the election process for the People’s Assembly.

The local al-Rased news network mentioned that As-Suwayda’s activists aim through this campaign to urge people to boycott the People’s Assembly elections in Syria, considering these elections “symbolic, with known names of winners, and participation only perpetuates the dictatorial manner in which the electoral process is conducted.”

The organizers of the mobile campaign pasted posters on walls and electric poles, in addition to hanging banners and organizing protest sit-ins to deliver their message demanding the boycott of the People’s Assembly elections.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree setting Monday, July 15, as the date for the elections of People’s Assembly members for the fourth legislative term. The decree allocated 127 seats for the workers and peasants sector and 123 seats for the other categories of the population.