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 The election is going ahead independently of a U.N.-led peace
process aimed at finding a political solution to the five-year-long
war. The government says it is being held on time in line with the
constitution. The opposition says the vote is illegitimate and will
obstruct already struggling diplomacy.
"We are voting for the sake of the Syrian people and for the sake of
Assad. Assad is already strong but these elections show that the
people support him and bolster him," said Hadi Jumaa, a 19-year-old
student, as he cast his ballot at his university halls of residence
in Damascus.
Dozens queued to vote at one polling station where a portrait of
Assad hung on the wall. Outside, some danced.
With his wife Asma at his side as he went to vote in Damascus, a
smiling Assad told state TV that terrorism had been able to destroy
much of Syria's infrastructure but not Syria's "social structure,
the national identity".
 The conflict has killed more than 250,000 and created millions of
refugees, splintering Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by
the government, an array of rebels, a powerful Kurdish militia, and
the Islamic State group. The government views all the groups
fighting it as terrorists.
The government controls around one third of Syria, including the
main cities of western Syria, home to most of the people who have
not fled the country. The United Nations puts the number of refugees
at 4.8 million.
It is the second election held by the government in wartime: Assad
was reelected president in 2014. Voters are to elect 250 MPs to
parliament, which has no real power in Syria's presidential system.
The state is rallying them around the slogan "Your vote strengthens
your steadfastness".
OPPOSITION SEES VOTE AS "THEATER"
The election coincides with the start of a second round of U.N.-led
peace talks in Geneva. The opposition delegation is due to meet U.N.
envoy Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday. The government has said it
will be ready to participate from Friday.
The diplomacy is struggling to make progress with no sign of
compromise over the main issue dividing the sides: Assad's future.
The government had ruled out any discussion of the presidency ahead
of the first round of talks last month.
"These elections do not mean anything," said Asaad al-Zoubi, chief
negotiator for the main opposition body, the High Negotiations
Council. "They are illegitimate - theater for the sake of
procrastination, theater through which the regime is trying to give
itself a little legitimacy."
Foreign states opposed to Assad have said the vote is out of line
with a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for elections at
the end of an 18-month transition. His allies, notably Russia, say
it is in line with the constitution.
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"The decision of the regime to hold elections is a measure of how
divorced it is from reality. They cannot buy back legitimacy by
putting up a flimsy facade of democracy," said a spokesperson for
the British government.
France said the elections were a "sham" organized by "an oppressive
regime".
Russia, one of Assad's main foreign allies, said however that the
election was necessary to avoid a power vacuum.
"There is understanding already, that a new constitution should
emerge as a result of this political process, on the basis of which
new, early elections are to be held," Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov told a news briefing.
"But before this happens, one should avoid any legal vacuum or any
vacuum in the sphere of executive power."
Syrians living in opposition-held areas dismissed the vote.
"We used to be forced to cast our vote in sham elections. Now, we
are no longer obliged to. After all this killing they want to make a
play called elections," said Yousef Doumani, speaking from the
rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus.
But Shereen Sirmani, who fled to Damascus from the Islamic
State-besieged city of Deir al-Zor four months ago, said the
election was good for Syria.
"We hope they bring people together," she said. "We support Assad
and these elections are a boost for him."
(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, and Tom Perry
and Angus McDowall in Beirut; editing by Giles Elgood)
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