In a statement on Monday, Mousavi said the elections were held at a time when Syrian people have suffered many pains and hardships because of the conflicts and damages imposed on them by actions of terrorist groups, presence of foreign occupying forces, and cruel unilateral sanctions.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is hopeful that the parliamentary elections in Syria would be a positive step towards peace, stability, and progress of Syrian-Syrian political talks, and a relief for the pains of Syrian people,” he added.
Syrians on Sunday went to the polls to elect a new parliament and put bitter years of war behind them, even as the country strives to liberate territories still controlled by foreign-backed militants.
“Today is a political victory that is added to the military victories,” said Syria’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Hussein Arnous.
Information Minister Imad Sarah also told reporters after the casting his ballot that the election “emphasizes the cohesion of the Syrian homeland, that after nine years of war, Syria will not kneel.”
President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath party and his allies are expected to win most of the parliament’s 250 seats in the third such polls to be held in Syria ever since foreign-sponsored militancy broke out in March 2011. The two previous polls were held in May 2012 and April 2016 respectively.
The elections, twice postponed from April due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, come weeks after the United States imposed new economic sanctions on Syria under the so-called Caesar Act.
In the last legislative vote in 2016, the Baath party and its allies took 200 of seats in parliament.
