DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syrians were voting Monday in municipal elections as security forces pushed with a deadly crackdown on dissent and regime opponents piled on the pressure with a second day of strikes. By midday the head of the elections committee, Khalaf al-Ezzawi, said "voting is proceeding in a democratic spirit," adding the turnout was "good." There were no further details. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine people were killed in the flashpoint regions of Homs and Idlib, while strikes were observed near Damascus and in Daraa, cradle of nine months of anti-regime protests. Opposition activists have urged citizens to intensify a civil disobedience campaign launched on Sunday in a bid to bring down the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Polling stations opened at 0600 GMT, with 42,889 candidates vying for 17,588 seats, and were due to close at 2000 GMT. More than 14 million Syrians can cast their ballots. Information Minister Adnan Mahmud told AFP the elections were part of a package of promised democratic reforms and would be followed by legislative polls in February. "These elections are taking place on time in line with a reform programme," Mahmud told AFP. "They are taking place although some are trying, in vain, to stop them through terrorist acts carried out by armed groups who are terrorising the citizens," he said. Last week local administration minister Omar Ghalawanji said a special indelible ink would be used for the first time in the municipal elections "to prevent any fraud." "I voted because we want to contribute to the reforms (pledged by Assad) and choose the best" candidates, said Zeina, a 35-year-old woman, as she emerged from a polling state in the central Ummayad Square of Damascus. Ahmad, a pro-regime taxi driver, said the vote was essential "as a response to those calling for a strike." But a regime opponent, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he did not expect a huge turnout. "I am surprised that elections are taking place under such circumstances," he said. "Cities gripped by the uprising are not concerned by these elections." He said he expected voting to be limited to areas where protests have been scarce or non-existent, including Syria's second city of Aleppo. The Britain-based Observatory said authorities "forced dozens of people" in Idlib to vote despite raging violence in the northwestern province where forces killed three people in an early morning raid. State-run SANA news agency reported that "masked, armed men" broke into polling stations in the Homs district of Tal Kalakh and fled with four ballot boxes which they later returned. On the ground, nine people were killed on Monday, five in Homs province, including a boy who was hit by bomb shrapnel, said the Observatory. Four people were also killed by security forces in Idlib province and seven others wounded, the group said. It also reported army deserters have been locked in heavy clashes since dawn with regular troops in two Idlib villages and that similar fighting was also raging in Daraa province. The opposition Syrian National Council said the "dignity" general strike launched Sunday was widely observed in 12 provinces against "all expectations." The SNC had urged Syrian citizens from all walks of life as well as labour unions to pursue the strike, saying it was essential "for the success of the revolution and the establishment of a civilian democratic nation." The strike is part of a campaign of civil disobedience which also aims to shut down universities, public transport, the civil service and major highways. "Yesterday we launched a general strike... which will continue to be observed until the fall of the tyrant regime. Today we will not send out children to school," activists wrote on an opposition website. The Observatory said the strike was observed for the second consecutive day in Daraa and also in the restive northern Damascus suburb of Douma. A man and a woman were killed in Douma on Sunday, when at least 13 people died in violence across Syria, including five in Homs province, as fears grew of an "invasion" of the besieged protest hub, activists said. UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, who has said more than 4,000 people have been killed in the government crackdown on dissent, is to brief the UN Security Council on Syria later Monday. The unprecedented protests which erupted in Syria in mid-March initially called for greater freedoms in one of the Arab world's most autocratic country. But faced with a brutal government crackdown protesters quickly began demanding the fall of the regime, despite repeated promises by Assad to adopt political reforms to appease his detractors.