MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax-AVN) - This fall, Syria held elections to local governments for the first time in eight years, and over 40,000 candidates ran, Russian National Defense Control Center head Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said.
"The elections to municipal bodies of self-government were held this fall for the first time in eight years. Over 40,000 candidates ran for 18,478 seats," Mizintsev said at a meeting of the Russian-Syrian interagency taskforce promoting the return of Syrian refugees on Tuesday.
Over 100 meetings dealing with the settlement of the crisis and normalization in Syria have been held with Russia's active mediation this year, including with the leaders of the guarantor countries in Sochi, Astana, Tehran, Istanbul, and Geneva, he said.