By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The ruling coalition took an overwhelming majority of seats in Syria's parliamentary elections, which were boycotted by the opposition as a farce, according to results announced Thursday.
Interior Minister Bassam Abdel-Majid said the National Progressive Front, an umbrella of 10 political parties led by the Baath Party, won 172 seats or 68.8 percent of the 250-member parliament in the tightly controlled elections on Sunday and Monday.
Voter turnout was 56 percent, Abdel-Majid told a news conference Thursday.
There had never been any doubt about the outcome as the constitution guarantees the Baath Party and its allies a two-thirds majority in the parliament.