Kurdish displaced committee rejects Syria’s Sere Kaniye elections as illegitimate
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – The Committee of Displaced People of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in northeastern Syria declared on Thursday that the parliamentary elections being held in their city are “illegitimate,” denouncing them as a violation of the rights of thousands of displaced people who have been unable to return to their homes since 2019.
In an official statement, the committee said the elections “lack any legal or moral legitimacy and do not reflect the will of the city’s original inhabitants,” most of whom remain forcibly displaced as a result of Turkey’s 2019 military operation and the subsequent control of the area by Turkish-backed armed groups.
“Elections held under a de facto authority are legally and rightfully invalid,” the statement read, calling the process “a continuation of systematic demographic change.”
According to the High Committee for Parliamentary Elections under the Syrian transitional government, the Sere Kaniye electoral body consists of 50 members tasked with electing one representative to the new People’s Assembly, while the neighboring Tel Abyad body — also under Turkish-backed control — includes 100 members who will elect two representatives.
Voting began Thursday morning at the Sere Kaniye Cultural Center and the People’s Assembly headquarters in Damascus.
The Displaced Committee said that at least 85 percent of Sere Kaniye’s original population now lives in displacement across northeastern Syria, particularly in Hasakah, Qamishli, and the Washokani camp, making the vote “unrepresentative and unjust.”
The committee reiterated that a fair political process must begin with the implementation of the March 10 agreement, guaranteeing displaced residents’ safe return, property restitution, and the creation of a neutral environment for free and inclusive elections.
It called on the United Nations and international human rights organizations to intervene and halt “illegal electoral practices that legitimize demographic change.”
On Oct. 5, members of the electoral bodies across most Syrian governorates, excluding Suwayda, Raqqa, and Hasakah, cast their votes to elect the first People’s Assembly in Syria since the fall of the al-Assad regime.