Khatib visits Aleppo villages as Syria opponents vote for council

 The chief of the Syrian National Coalition, for the first time, visited rebel-held areas near the embattled city of Aleppo in northern Syria. (Al Arabiya)

By Al Arabiya with agencies

Opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad voted on Sunday to elect 29 provincial council members to run rebel-held areas in the northern province of Aleppo, organizers and participants told AFP.

"For the first time, Aleppo will have a freely elected provincial council. We hope the whole of Syria will have a free election soon," candidate Yehia Naanaa from the bombed-out town of Hreitan told AFP...........

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Khatib visits Aleppo villages as Syria opponents vote for council

First free Syrian Diaspora elections in Turkey, U.N. offers to broker peace deal

Over 200 Syrians have attended their first free election to cast ballots in the Turkish city of Ghazi Intab to elect their next representative for the province of Aleppo. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya

For the first time since Bashar al-Assad and his family have been in power, Syrians held their first democratic polls in the Turkish city Ghazi Intab to elect representatives for the city of Aleppo.
 
More than 250 people attended the polls and among them was the Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz al-Khatib along with the Syrian American Council’s senior political advisor and director of strategy Mohammed Ghanem.
 
In a statement after the elections, the United Nations said it was prepared to broker peace talks between Syria’s regime and opposition.
 
"The United Nations would welcome and be prepared to facilitate a dialogue between a strong and representative delegation from the opposition and a credible and empowered delegation from the Syrian government," a joint statement by Ban Ki-moon and his top envoy for the conflict Lakhdar Brahimi said Saturday................

FULL ARTICLE HERE: First free Syrian elections in Turkey, U.N. to broker peace deal