Chief of the Higher Judicial Committee for elections Judge Hisham al-Shaar announced that all ballot boxes were closed at all centers in Syria at 12 midnight, adding the electoral committees started to count votes

Chief of the Higher Judicial Committee for elections Judge Hisham al-Shaar announced that all ballot boxes were closed at all centers in Syria at 12 midnight, adding the electoral committees started to count votes, Syria state news agency reported.

Earlier, the Higher Judicial Committee for Elections decided to extend voting five extra hours pushing closing time to midnight at all polling centers due to a remarkably heavy turnout.

Touring a number of polling stations in Damascus along with the Committee's members, al-Shaar pointed to a heavy turnout by voters in the presidential polling which started early this morning and stressed that no disturbances have been reported.

In the same context, the Higher Judicial Committee told SANA that the turnout in voting centers far exceeded expectations.

Ahmad Munir Rihawi, head of Aleppo sub-committee, said 150 additional ballot boxes were ordered by several polling stations in the province in which the original boxes were full due to the high turnout.