Voters in war-torn Syria cast their ballots to elect a new parliament on Sunday, as the country grapples with international sanctions and a crumbling economy. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, polling staff wore masks, checked voters’ temperature and ensured they stayed at a distance while lining up for the vote.

Some 2,100 candidates were contesting for parliament’s 250 seats in all the 15 multi-seat constituencies, according to official figures. However, any real political opposition is absent, with most candidates from Baath and its loyalist groups. President Bashar al-Assad is expected to claim an overwhelming victory.

Assad and his wife Asma voted in Damascus, with the president’s office posting photos of the couple who wore white face masks.

The poll was the third parliamentary election since the pro-democracy uprising against President Assad in 2011, which sparked a civil war that has killed more than 360,000 people.

The vote, which has been delayed twice since April, was being held in government-controlled areas — including for the first time in former opposition strongholds — and also in areas where Damascus has partial control, for example in the provinces of al-Hasakah, Idlib and al-Raqqa.