The first local elections in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria were held on 22 September 2017. Representatives of 3,700 communes in the regions of the Northern Syria Federation were selected in the election, involving 12,421 candidates. The communal elections on 22 September were followed by elections of local councils in December and a federal parliamentary election of the People's Democratic Council, the region's highest governing body, in 2018. Some areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces were not included in the election, including the city of Manbij.