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(CNN) — Polls opened Monday in Syria, with more than 7,000 candidates vying for 250 seats in parliament amid mounting international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to step aside.

The opposition urged Syrians to boycott the elections, saying a vote for any of the candidates amounted to a vote for al-Assad.

“We are moving ahead till we topple the regime,” read a slogan on an opposition election poster that purported to show its candidates: victims of al-Assad’s violent crackdown on those calling for his ouster.

Security was heavy across Syria as voters began casting ballots in the parliamentary elections at 7 a.m., the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported. The government news service said judicial supervision of the vote would ensure “fairness, freedom and democracy.”

In the provinces of Daraa and Hama, the opposition claimed general strikes and election boycotts were under way in a number of locations.

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Reports of sporadic clashes emerged. At least six people were killed in violence Monday, including three people in Deir Ezzor, two people in the Damascus suburbs and one in Idlib, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition group.

In parts of Daraa province, the opposition network said regime thugs were trying to force civilians to vote. Gunfire also was reported in Yadouda, where security forces used bulldozers to open roads and break a strike, the group said.

The election follows the adoption of a new constitution that allows political parties to compete with al-Assad’s ruling Baath Party. The referendum in February, hailed by government supporters as a step toward reform, was widely ridiculed by analysts and the opposition as window dressing.

Spurred by the success of popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, Syrians took to the streets in March 2011 calling for reforms and increased political freedoms. But a brutal crackdown against demonstrators saw the movement quickly devolve into an uprising with an armed resistance.

World powers, including many of Syria’s Arab neighbors, have condemned the violence, which has pitted al-Assad’s Alawite minority-dominated government against a predominantly Sunni uprising. Al-Assad is an Alawite, a Shiite offshoot.

The United Nations estimates at least 9,000 people have died in the conflict, though the opposition said the death toll is much higher. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria puts the toll at more than 11,000.

CNN cannot independently verify reports of violence and deaths within Syria as the government has restricted access by most of the international media.

In Syria’s capital, a student at Damascus University said she was trying to be optimistic about the elections.

“Maybe these new parliamentarians will do something (to) push the regime to change. Who knows?” said the student, who identified herself as Obi. “But I’m telling you, the polling stations are empty. And I don’t think too many people are going to go (to) the ballot boxes.”

In southern Syria, a man who identified himself as Mammon said he was refusing to cast a ballot in Daraa.

“I see all the government moves at the moment as gutless and pointless. How can we say that we are gonna be happy about this election when this guy is killing the people?” he asked.

In the embattled Baba Amr neighborhood in the city of Homs, an opposition member identified as Abo Odi said there was no sign of an election in the bombed-out community.

“Homs is totally destroyed, and some neighborhoods are empty of people and the rest of the city is controlled by the army or by (the rebel Free Syrian Army),” he said.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency described what it said were the opinions of several student voters. One called on authorities to fight corruption, while another asked for the creation of more jobs.

Election centers were set up at border crossings, state media reported, “to enable citizens leaving or arriving in Syria to practice their right to elect.”

Thousands have fled the violence in Syria, primarily crossing the border into Turkey. On Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited a refugee camp along the Turkey-Syria border, where he promised to allow the more than 23,000 Syrians living in Turkish camps to stay until they voluntarily choose to return to their country.

The al-Assad family has ruled Syria for 42 years. Al-Assad’s father, Hafez, ruled for three decades and was routinely criticized for his brutal handling of dissent. Bashar al-Assad assumed the mantle from his father in 2000.

Both the Syrian regime and the rebel Free Syrian Army have agreed to a peace plan brokered by Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League special envoy. A key element of the plan involves a cease-fire by all parties plus the withdrawal of Syrian forces from populated areas.

But there have been continuing reports of attacks and clashes since an April 12 cease-fire went into effect, raising doubts about whether it can be resolved.

The plan includes the government allowing humanitarian aid groups access to the population, releasing detainees, starting a political dialogue and withdrawing troops from city centers.

Additionally, dozens of U.N. observers are in Syria, with 300 expected by the end of the month to monitor the cease-fire and peace plan.

CNN’s Saad Abedine in Atlanta and Ivan Watson, Yesim Comert and journalist Omar al Muqdad in Istanbul, Turkey, contributed to this report.