Municipal elections held Sept. 16 presumably constituted a new attempt by Damascus to showcase internal stability. Official accounts say about 40,000 candidates competed for over 18,000 council seats in regions long controlled by the government. Authorities said the ostensibly high turnout made them extend voting nationwide five hours; it ended at midnight instead of 7 p.m.

Curiously, the official information about the turnout was mentioned only after the results were announced by the Higher Judicial Committee for Elections. Losing candidates can challenge the results within five days after the official announcement of the results. However, the stipulation is but a mere formality since the elections were clearly biased toward the Baath Party and the outcome was expected. The formal victory of the ruling party makes it even less likely that officials in Damascus will promote political diversity when the final stage of the armed confrontation with the rebels is over.

The municipal elections are a message to the world that “Syria has won and the Syrian people have returned to a state of normalcy,” Prime Minister Imad Khamis said. Hussein Makhlouf, a Syrian local administration minister and head of the Coordination Agency for the Return of Displaced Syrians, said the elections are central to the efforts to boost Syrian stabilization and reconstruction.

Opposition sources said the turnout was rather low as most Syrians considered the elections to be of no real value. The sources said that only those who could not abstain from voting and were forced to go to polling stations — they mostly were civil servants — went to cast ballots. People were markedly intent on distancing themselves from the voting process in Daraa province, brought under the control of the regime following recent military offensives and agreements involving external actors, the sources said.