The heads of nomination committees for applications to run for the People’s Assembly expected that Sunday would see major demand for nominations following the Friday and Saturday holidays.
The Supreme Judicial Committee announced last Thursday that applications for candidacies would start in the headquarters of the electoral district buildings in each governorate, one day after the decree was published in the Official Gazette.
According to the heads of the nominating committees, there have been more than 400 applications in the governorates, including 33 in Damascus, 35 in its countryside, 148 in Aleppo and its environs, and 51 in Homs.
In Lattakia, there were 23 applications, in Tartous 12, while in Hassakeh there were 29, and in Deir ez-Zor 28. In Daraa, there were 22, in Raqqa there were three, Quneitra eight, and Idleb seven, In Suweida there were 10, and a number also in Hama.
The head of the first nomination committee in Damascus, Hazem al-Alousi, said that turnout was slow on Thursday and Friday, although the number increased on Saturday. He predicted that the number of applications for nominations would increase dramatically on Sunday by virtue of the fact that the institutions which grant the required papers to candidates would begin their official shifts.
Alousi told Al-Watan that the nominating committee receives the applications and then decides on them within five days of submission. He said that those whose applications are rejected had the right to appeal the decision before the judicial subcommittee.
Medhat al-Khurfan, head of the second nomination committee in Aleppo, said that turnout had been middling and that on Sunday it is expected to increase significantly.
Khurfan told Al-Watan that the papers would be accepted or rejected within five days from submission, noting that the committee’s headquarters are in the governorate building and that there are many residents of Aleppo’s environs living in the city as a result of the crisis.
The head of the nomination committee in Lattakia, Ziad Salhab, attributed the small number of requests to the Friday and Saturday holiday, noting that the number of applications so far had been 12, which was expected to increase on Sunday, with the situation differing radically from the past three days.
Salhab confirmed that the submitted applications had not been decided upon, pending an increase in their number.
The head of the first nomination committee in Aleppo, Yassin Hassoun, said that there had been about 45 applications, adding that the committee had five days from the date of the application’s submission to decide, and that if it had not been decided upon during this period, it is de facto accepted.
The head of the judicial subcommittee in Quneitra, George Helena, stressed that the turnout had been very weak in the governorate due to the weekend, while the head of the nomination committee in Homs, Adnan Ibrahim, said that the number of applications had reached about 27 so far in the governorate.
Mustafa al-Ibrahim, head of the nomination committee in Raqqa governorate, said that three applications had been received by the committee over the past three days, and that those who wish to nominate themselves are collecting the required papers to be submitted to the committee.
He said that a center has been opened in the al-Sabkha area to receive the requests, and then on Tuesday and Wednesday, it would go to Hama governorate to receive the requests from the people living in Raqqa.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
