Syria elects municipal councilors

DAMASCUS, Syria, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Syrians went to the polls Sunday to elect nearly 10,000 municipal councilors across the country.

The two days of voting, to end Monday afternoon, capped low-key campaigning between independent candidates and candidates from the National Progressive Front, or NPF, the ruling coalition, reported Alalam Satellite TV.

NPF candidates won 172 of the 250 seats in Parliament in an April election. Independents won the remaining 78 seats.

The NPF is headed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, 41, the son of the late President Hafez al-Assad.

Al-Assad was re-elected president in May for a second seven-year term in a referendum that saw him take more than 97 percent of the vote.