The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) has begun conducting unannounced municipal elections in Deir Ezzor province after a suspension that lasted several months.

Promotion for the elections started through local councils and among employees and workers, without an official announcement, beginning in areas controlled by the AANES in Deir Ezzor province, according to what a reporter from Enab Baladi observed.

Local councils and communes have held meetings with residents to convince them to elect candidates from the Future Syria Party, which entered the elections alongside other parties under the name “Peoples’ Alliance,” including the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Modernity Party, and the Zenobia Women’s Gathering.

A responsible source in the al-Hasakah Local Council affiliated with AANES, who preferred to remain unnamed as he is not authorized to speak to the media, told Enab Baladi that AANES launched meetings where names of candidates for municipal elections were presented, most of whom belong to the Future Syria Party.

For his part, a responsible source in the Future Syria Party in Deir Ezzor mentioned that the elections were expected to commence on November 10 this month. After being postponed multiple times, it was decided to start them today, Monday, without any changes to the plan so far.

The source, who chose to remain unnamed due to the same reasons, added that the elections will take place in two phases: the first will involve military personnel today, Monday, and the second will be for civilians starting tomorrow, Tuesday.

As the first day of elections begins, the forces of Internal Security Forces (Asayish) affiliated with AANES have spread in areas controlled by it in Deir Ezzor province.

Enab Baladi has not received answers from officials in the Autonomous Administration for an official comment regarding the launch of municipal elections.

Enab Baladi obtained images of the election ballots through sources from the participating parties.

An election card issued by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in Deir Ezzor province – November 17, 2024 (Enab Baladi)

Local news websites, including Eye of Euphrates, which specializes in covering news in Deir Ezzor, reported that AANES has set the dates of November 18 and 19 for the launch of municipal elections in Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria.

Local newsrooms have shared on the popular messaging app Telegram, including al-Shaitat Official and Sharqiya Official Reporter, images showing a schedule detailing the number of election cards in the al-Hajin area of Deir Ezzor, after similar elections concluded in Raqqa.

Enab Baladi’s correspondents in al-Hasakah did not observe any similar movements for launching elections at the time this news was released.

After repeated postponements

On September 5, the Autonomous Administration announced the start of preparations for conducting municipal elections in its controlled areas, following over four months of the elections being postponed for the first time.

AANES issued Decision No. 7, stating that it has authorized the High Electoral Commission to start working on conducting municipal elections.

The decision did not specify a date for the elections but indicated that the elections would be held at a time deemed appropriate by the High Electoral Commission, based on the situation in each district individually.

AANES administratively divides its controlled areas into districts, disregarding the original administrative divisions of Syrian provinces in the region.

Municipal elections have previously been postponed three times, the first at the end of May, the second in June. Following that, the head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Saleh Muslim, spoke about AANES’ insistence on conducting elections in August, but that did not happen.

AANES did not announce a third postponement of its elections, though it has exceeded the previously announced timeframe.

Due to pressures

Days after the elections were postponed for the first time, the United States (the main supporter of AANES) commented on the elections, stating that the conditions of the “crisis” in Syria are not suitable for conducting elections in northeastern Syria at the current time.

A press briefing by the principal deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, Vedant Patel, on May 30, stated that the US maintains its position that any elections held in Syria “must be free, fair, transparent, and inclusive.”

With the second postponement, Germany took a similar stance through the German envoy to Syria, Stefan Schneck, who stated via “X” that holding elections in Syria at the present time would not advance the political process but would instead entrench the ongoing state of conflict and division.

Turkey took a harsher stance, with the leader of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli, calling for a joint military operation between Turkey and the Syrian regime to eliminate the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Syria, as reported by the Turkish Cumhuriyet newspaper.

Bahçeli criticized the municipal elections, considering them a new stage in the “division of Turkey,” indicating that the United States sees dialogue with “terrorists” as strategically important in the region, referring to the Autonomous Administration.

AANES: We have not faced pressures

For her part, the co-chair of the Foreign Relations Board in the Autonomous Administration, Ilham Ahmed, stated on June 13 that the municipal elections are a “restoration process for the service institutions that are working to rehabilitate what Turkey has destroyed amid international silence.”

She added that the electoral process was a popular demand that emerged as one of the outputs of the Conference of the Sons of al-Jazira and Euphrates held in 2019 after consultative meetings with the region’s residents, but the start of elections was delayed for security reasons.

According to Ahmed, AANES was surprised by the negative responses that emerged from many international parties regarding this step, which was stipulated in UN Resolution 2254 concerning Syria.

Ankara considers that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the military wing of AANES, constitutes an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed on its “terrorism” lists, a claim that the SDF denies despite previously acknowledging the presence of fighters from the Workers’ Party in its ranks.