Syria’s electoral commission said Saturday that next month’s first parliamentary election under the new administration will exclude Suwayda and two other provinces because of security concerns.
Hundreds of people died in clashes between Druze and Bedouin fighters in July, when government forces were sent to the city to quell the unrest.
Israel intervened with airstrikes to prevent what it claimed were mass killings of Druze by government troops.
The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Suwayda is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes and there is longstanding tension between the communities over land and other resources.
The main Druze factions that control the province have renounced President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government and resisted the deployment of government troops, saying they want to run their own security.
Next month's ballot will also be delayed in the northern Hasaka and Raqqa provinces – parts of which are mostly controlled by the PKK/YPG terrorist group – until there is a "safe environment," state media quoted the electoral commission as saying.
Seats allocated to the three provinces will remain vacant until elections can be held there, a spokesperson for the Higher Committee for People's Assembly Elections told SANA news agency.
"The elections are a sovereign matter that can only be conducted in areas fully under government control," he added.
The decision drew criticism from the occupying group. "These elections are not democratic and do not express the will of the Syrians in any way. They represent nothing but a continuation of the approach of marginalisation and exclusion," they claimed in a statement Sunday.
It denied that safety was a valid reason to exclude the provinces, claiming they were considered safe compared to other areas.
The head of the electoral commission said last month that voting for the 210-member People's Assembly was due to take place between Sept. 15 and 20.
Al-Sharaa said in February, it would take four to five years for the country to be ready to hold a presidential election.
