Syria is making final preparations for a parliamentary election on Monday, with authorities praising it as a major reform, while opposition activists ridicule it as a farce for coinciding with a violent government crackdown on an opposition uprising.

Syrian election officials have said at least seven new political parties will participate in Monday's vote for the 250-seat assembly, dominated for decades by the ruling Baath party of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A new constitution approved in a February referendum allowed the creation of opposition parties to compete with the Baath-led National Progressive Front.

A spokeswoman for Syria's main exiled opposition group, the Syrian National Council, told VOA that the parliamentary election is an “insult to democracy.” Speaking by phone from France, Bassma Kodmani said the government is “killing (people) every day” in centers of the 14-month rebellion against Mr. Assad's autocratic rule. She said the only people who will vote in such an environment are those who are “forced” to do so.

Kodmani said Syrian authorities typically arrange bus transportation to polling stations for ruling party members, public sector workers and students. She said the use of security forces to oversee such transportation is a way of pressuring people to vote.

The SNC spokeswoman also dismissed the involvement of new political parties in the election, calling them “creations of the regime.” She said Syria's opposition movement remains outside of any legal institutions and continues to take to the streets to make itself heard.

Mr. Assad's government has made a series of reform gestures since the start of the uprising while pressing ahead with the crackdown on what it sees as armed terrorists backed by a foreign conspiracy.

On the eve of the election, Syrian state television showed the president participating in a martyrs' day ceremony for troops in a mountainous region overlooking Damascus.

Syrian government and rebel forces have continued daily attacks on each other despite a U.N.-backed truce agreement that took effect last month. Opposition activists reported fighting between the two sides in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Sunday.

A U.N. team deployed in Syria to monitor the truce said the number of observer personnel has risen to 70, with the contingent set to reach 300 by the end of May. The observers toured several towns around Damascus, meeting Syrian troops, inspecting military vehicles and talking to residents in Zabadani and Madaya. The U.N. mission has said it is having a calming effect in areas where observers have taken up residence.

The truce agreement mediated by international envoy Kofi Annan calls for Syrian troops and heavy weapons to be pulled out of civilian areas. The Syrian government has said it reserves the right to use those forces to defend against rebel attacks. Both sides in the conflict accuse the other of repeatedly violating the cease-fire.

In another development, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Turkish border with Syria on Sunday, making his first visit to a refugee camp for Syrians who have fled the Assad government's crackdown. Speaking to a crowd of hundreds from the top of a bus, Mr. Erdogan said victory for Syria's rebellion is “not far off” and mocked the Syrian president, saying “Bashar is losing blood every day.”

Ankara has been one of the strongest regional critics of the Assad government's suppression of the revolt. Turkey is home to about 23,000 Syrian refugees and hosts Syrian rebel soldiers and opposition activists.