divided among various factions. The pre-war citizen population was over 21 million. As of 2020, Syria remains the largest source country of refugees with 6.6 million refugees having fled the nation since the start of the conflict. Additionally, seven million Syrians are internally displaced, including 4.4 million in rebel-held territory, and two to four million) live in the Kurdish-ruled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria - see Demographics of Syria - while over 100,000 citizens are detained as political prisoners. The election is held only in government-held territory. According to TRT World, 5-6 million adults live in areas under government control, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimates 10.9 million adults and children. According to SOHR, only five million people participated in the election, some coerced into doing so. Interior minister Mohammad Khaled al-Rahmoun said that 18 million Syrians are eligible to vote. The vote took place despite a 2015 United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a new constitution ahead of elections. Analysts said the elections were held so that the government and its backer Russia could claim victory in the war, to rehabilitate the country's reputation with the Arab League, and to demonstrate that Syria is a safe country for refugees to return to. Four hundred civil servants, judges, lawyers and journalists detained in a crackdown early in the year on social media dissent under cybercrime laws were granted an amnesty on May in advance of the election, along with thousands freed under a general amnesty for currency speculators, drug dealers, smugglers and kidnappers. Most of the freed critics were on the government side in the Civil War, and the amnesty excluded tens of thousands of Assad political detainees. The election was also held in the context of a severe economic crisis. The government took a series of steps in the weeks before the vote to influence public opinion, including attempts to reduce inflation and to extend government grants to state employees in areas experiencing economic hardship. Electoral system The Constitution of Syria approved in 2012 states that: "Voters shall be the citizens who have completed eighteen years of age and met the conditions stipulated in the Election Law." (Article 59) The Election Law shall include the provisions that ensure: (Article 61) The freedom of voters to choose their representatives and the safety and integrity of the electoral procedures. The right of candidates to supervise