Members of the local council in the town of Afrin in rural Aleppo on Thursday elected Zuhair Haidar head of the council and Abdo Nabhan as his deputy in addition to a six-member executive council.
The election of the local council in Afrin is a first step towards the election of local councils in all sub-district in Afrin region. The councils will be part of the Free Aleppo Provincial Council. The move is aimed at restoring stability and ensuring the return of displaced persons to their homes and lands.
President of the Syrian Coalition Abdurrahman Mustafa said that all local councils in the region would be formed through inclusive local elections as he stressed the need to repair infrastructure and provide services to the civilian population with the participation of all the directorates of the Syrian Interim Government (SIG).
Mustafa pointed out that the people of Afrin are the ones who are administering their region to ensure the return of all displaced people to their homes and their participation in the upcoming local elections.
For his part, SIG’s Head Jawad Abu Hatab said that the current council would administer the region for an interim period of up to six months, noting that a new council would be elected afterwards with the participation of all the people of the region.
Abu Hatab pointed out that the 20-member local council in Afrin represents all the residents of the region, expressing the hope that the council will achieve its goals for the next stage, namely the restoration of hope for a better future now that the PYD militias have been ousted from the region. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)