UN leader Ban Ki-moon has slammed the Syrian government for holding a national election while violence is still raging and for failing to involve all parties.
"Only a comprehensive and inclusive political dialogue can lead to a genuine democratic future in Syria," Mr Ban said through his spokesman Martin Nesirky.
"These elections are not taking place within that framework.
"Moreover, a democratic process cannot be successful while violence is still ongoing," he added.
"It is essential that there be a cessation of violence in all its forms and action to implement" the six-point peace plan of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, Mr Ban said in the short statement.
The legislative election called by President Bashar al-Assad's government has been dismissed as a sham by the Syrian opposition which has called for a boycott.
The election was called despite Syria being in the grip of an uprising against Mr Assad which the UN says has left well over 9,000 dead since March 2011.
In northern Idlib province, residents reported gunfire and explosions and in the city of Hama rebels and soldiers clashed early in the day, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, three dissidents were killed in a dawn raid by government troops, the Observatory added, underlining the challenge of holding a credible poll and complicating the task of UN observers monitoring a ceasefire declared on 12 April.
Reports cannot be independently verified as the Syrian authorities have not allowed the international media into the country.
Unlike autocratic leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen who were toppled by the Arab Spring, Mr Assad has kept enough support among the military and his Alawite sect, which dominates the army and security apparatus, to withstand the 14-month-old revolt.
He has dismissed the uprising as the work of foreign-backed "terrorists" and, counting on the diplomatic support of long-time ally Russia, says he will carry out his own reform programme.
However the ferocity of the crackdown has appalled people across the globe and many foreign governments have urged him to step down.
