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Polls have opened and voting is underway in Syria’s government-held areas amid heavy security, in an election President Bashar al-Assad is widely expected to win but which has been denounced by critics and the West.
Show all 20 1 /20In pictures: Syria elections In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Protestors who oppose Syrian President Bashar Assad carry a banner during a demonstration at Kafr Nabil town in Idlib province, northern Syria
AP
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections A banner with a picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad with a slogan reading in Arabic, " we build it together" hangs on a destroyed building in the Homs neighborhood of Khaldiyeh
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Syrian Prime Minister Wael Halqi speaking to media after he casted his ballot in the presidential elections at a polling station in Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Syrian defence minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij (C) casting his ballot in the presidential elections at a polling station in Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Employees emptying the poll boxes following to the closure of polls at midnight local time in Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Syrian students, one wearing a T-shirt bearing a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad, prepare to cast their votes in the country's presidential elections at a polling station in the Baath University of Homs, north of Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections A Syrian student shows her ink-stained thumb after casting her vote in the country's presidential elections at a polling station in the Baath University of Homs, north of Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections A Syrian woman rides in a car painted in the colors of the Syrian flag with President Bashar Assad's portrait in Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections A man casts his ballot in Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Supporters of of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad celebrate in front of a polling centre in Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Syrian President Bashar al-Assad casts his vote at a polling station in Maliki, a residential area in the centre of the capital Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his wife Asma al-Assad (R) casting their votes in the presidential elections at martyr Na'em Ma'asarani School in al-Malki neighborhood in Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections An old trains station is decorated with posters showing President Bashar Assad in Damascus
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections A Syrian man casts his ballot at a polling site in the Um-Al Zinnar church in the Old City in Homs
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections A ballot paper bearing the portraits of the three presidential candidates (LtoR) Maher Abdel Hafiz Hajjar, President Bashar al-Assad and Hassan Abdallah al-Nuri displayed at Bassel al-Assad school turned into a polling station for the presidential election in central Damascus
AFP
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Syrians walk past campaign posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad displayed on a stall at a market in the capital Damascus
AFP
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Syrian men pretend they are casting their votes during a mock election calling for the "criminal" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the stripped of his Syrian nationality in the mostly rebel-held city of Aleppo
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections Supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad hold his portraits and wave Syrian flags during a demonstration in support of his candidacy for presidential election in the costal city of Tartous
AP
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections A Syrian man shows a ballot paper bearing the portraits of the three presidential candidates (LtoR): Maher Abdel Hafiz Hajjar, Bashar al-Assad and Hassan Abdallah al-Nuri
AFP
In pictures: Syria elections Syria elections An electoral worker holds a voting card at a polling center in Damascus
EPA
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