AANES postpones municipal elections in NE Syria

The Commission said in a statement they decided to postpone the elections at the official request of political parties and alliances who are participating in the elections.

The elections were scheduled to be held on June 11.

The statement pointed out the reason for the postponement was due to the tight schedule allocated for campaigning and to have enough time to communicate with international organizations to monitor the electoral process.

On May 21, the Commission urged international organizations to participate in monitoring the municipal elections in Northeast Syria to ensure the success, integrity, transparency, and independence of the electoral process.

The Commission rescheduled the election to be held in August.

On May 30, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the AANES municipal elections threaten its “national security.”

“Turkey will never allow the separatist organization to establish (a terror state) just beyond its southern borders in the north of Syria and Iraq,” Erdogan said.

Additionally, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the U.S. Department of State, Vedant Patel, said on May 30, “Any elections that occur in Syria should be free, fair, transparent, and inclusive, as is called for in UNSCR 2254, and we don’t think that the conditions for such elections are in place in NE Syria in present time.”