Syria's Kurds to boycott country's parliamentary elections

QAMISHLO, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan24) – On Monday, the autonomous administration of Syria's Kurdish-controlled northern regions (Rojava) threatened to boycott the country's parliamentary elections to be held on April 13.    

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has already called for parliamentary elections, according to a statement issued by the Syrian presidency on Feb. 22.

Speaking to Kurdistan24, Idris Nassan, Foreign Affairs Minister of Kobani district in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), said, "The Rojava administration regions reject these elections [of the Syrian parliament] and officially declare that they won't let the elections be held in areas under the control of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)."

Nassan added that since the autonomous administration of Rojava was declared by the Kurds and other minorities, they are out of Assad’s control, Kurds have nothing to do with Assad’s elections.

Additionally, the Kurdish National Council in Syria (ENKS) called the Syrian Kurds for a boycott of the said country's parliamentary elections.

ENKS said, in a statement issued on Sunday, that the election boycott comes as the Syrian regime is practicing daily killings against the Syrian people alongside the continuing campaigns of repression, persecution, arrest, as well as the bombing of cities and the demolition of houses belonging to innocent people.

"The Kurdish National Council in Syria (ENKS) announces the boycott (voters and candidates) of the elections scheduled to take place by the dictatorial Syrian regime," the statement said.

The statement added that the Syrian regime’s insistence on holding the parliamentary elections is a challenge to the will and efforts of the international community in stopping the ongoing civil war in Syria, and it is a clear attempt by the Syrian administration to pervert the course of the Geneva peace negotiations.

This is the second time the Syrian Kurds have boycotted the Syrian regime’s elections. 

In June 2014, Syrian Kurds boycotted the presidential elections in Syria, when the Kurdish internal security forces (Asayish) destroyed several ballot boxes in the Kurdish-controlled towns and villages around the city of Qamishlo, northeast Syria.

Syria's last parliamentary elections were in 2012 and are held every four years.

Reporting by Hisham Arafat

Editing by Ava Homa and Karzan Sulaivany