Syrians living in government-held areas head to the polls to vote in parliamentary elections, hours ahead of the resumption of talks in Geneva to resolve the country's five-year civil war.
Polls for the rubber-stamp People's Assembly opened at 7am local time (1400 AEST) on Wednesday, with about 3500 candidates contesting 250 seats.
The elections, expected to be dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's Arab nationalist Baath Party and other regime loyalists, have been dismissed as a provocation by al-Assad's opponents.
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The US has said that it regards them as illegitimate, and even moderate Damascus-based opposition groups tolerated by the government are boycotting them.
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said the previous day, during a visit to Tehran, that he plans to restart peace talks on Wednesday afternoon in Geneva.
His first meetings are expected to be with members of the opposition Higher Negotiating Committee.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Moqdad on Tuesday told Russian state news agency TASS that the government side would be ready to take part in the talks after holding the elections.
An initial round of talks was suspended in February amid opposition anger at a Russian-backed government offensive near the northern city of Aleppo which sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing.
De Mistura said last week that the only election he is interested in is a vote that the UN Security Council has said should take place within 18 months under UN supervision.
The Syrian opposition has insisted repeatedly that there can be no future role for al-Assad and have demanded that he step down even before the UN-mandated elections.
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