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		</div><p>Syrians in government-controlled areas are heading to polling stations to elect a new 250-member parliament which is expected to serve as a rubber stamp for President Bashar Assad.</p>
<p>Around 3,500 government-approved candidates are competing after more than 7,000 others dropped out.</p>
<p>Parliamentary elections in Syria are held every four years, and Damascus says the vote is constitutional and separate from peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the war.</p>
<p>But the opposition says the voting contributes to an unfavourable climate for negotiations amid fierce fighting that threatens an increasingly tenuous ceasefire engineered by the US and Russia.</p>
<p>Western leaders and members of the opposition have denounced the process as a sham and a provocation that undermines the Geneva peace talks.<br />
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<p>The election, in which soldiers are being allowed to vote for the first time, will be conducted only in areas under government control.</p>
<p>Voting stations have been set up in 12 of Syria&#8217;s 14 provinces.</p>
<p>The northern province of Raqqa is controlled by the Islamic State group, and the north-western province of Idlib is controlled by its rival, the al Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, as well as other insurgent factions.</p>
<p>The government has no presence in either province.<br />
The results are expected on Thursday.</p>
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