Engineer Arnous: Local council elections are message to Syria’s enemies confirming its adherence to constitutional entitlements

Prime Minister, Engineer Hussein Arnous, affirmed that the local council elections are a message to all the enemies of Syria, confirming the Syrian people’s adherence to constitutional entitlements despite the terrorist war. He pointed out that participation in the elections confirms steadfastness on  national rights and principles and concern for the blood of the martyrs.

In a press statement after casting his vote today at the Cabinet’s Center, Engineer Arnous stressed the importance of the local council elections, because the local administration is the citizen’s direct link with the state and the government’s executive side for the advancement of society. These elections will lead to the transfer of many central powers to the local administration within the state’s direction to complete the national administrative centralization plan.

Engineer Arnous said: The elections that we are witnessing today throughout the country’s squares are a message to all the enemies of Syria to affirm its keenness at all times to complete the constitutional requirements on time. The high turnout of citizens to participate in the elections means steadfastness on national rights and principles and keenness on the blood of the martyrs who sacrificed themselves and the wounded who made the most precious to keep Syria sovereign.

In a similar statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Dr. Faisal Miqdad, said after casting his vote: “The constitutional entitlements did not stop during the years of the terrorist war, and the Syrian people continued to exercise their right and duty in these entitlements. President Bashar Al-Assad emphasized that all electoral entitlements be exercised, whether the local administration, the People’s Assembly, or the presidential elections on their scheduled dates, which is what happened during the past years, despite all the challenges.”

Al-Miqdad added that the massive participation in the local council elections is an essential part for democratic expression of the people’s desires and their responsibility for Syria’s present and future. We hope that the successful candidates in the next stage will play an active role in the development process.

The Minister of Local Administration and Environment, Engineer Hussein Makhlouf, affirmed that the local council elections are an important stage to improve services in each administrative unit, pointing out that the citizens’ turnout to participate in them confirms their progress in the reconstruction of their country and the completion of the Syrian Arab Army’s victories against terrorism.

Makhlouf said after casting his vote at the center of the ministry: The local council elections are a message that the Syrians are committed to their homeland and they are the decision-makers in democratically electing their local councils. He noted that today at the threshold of a new phase of the local councils term for the next four years. We hope that it will be a stage of development and advancement of local communities, improvement of services, and optimal investment of local natural resources that characterize each administrative unit in a way that supports the national economy and enhances the resilience of the Syrian people in the face of illegal Western coercive economic measures.

Makhlouf referred to the progress made in completing the development of the national plan for administrative decentralization, and that the next phase of the local councils’ term will witness the transfer of the competencies of many sectors to them, which places a new responsibility on them to carry out their duty to advance their societies.

Inas Abdulkareem