"People know there is going to be chaos, fighting, shelling, so people are frightened," said one activist reached via Skype.
Activists reported fighting, shelling and air raids in rebel-held areas of Syria as voting began elswhere.
They said there was street fighting and shelling in Tadamon and areas south of the city.
Investors in the nearby tourist resort of Bajamar are fighting the Shell-Sempra proposal in court.
"Every day they were fighting and shelling," said the farmer, Abdul Malook Aka, 55. "We do not feel secure in the village and we decided to leave.
Opposition activists said the bloodshed continued on Saturday across Syria, with dozens reported killed in fighting and shelling in Deir al-Zour, Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Dara'a, Idlib and Damascus and its suburbs.
The extensive street fighting and shelling have reduced the Old City and a number of areas, including the adjacent Khalidiya district, to ghostly, rubble-strewn wastelands.
There is fighting and shelling going on," said Ahmad Mohammed, 26, who returned from the front Monday and manning a checkpoint in Zeitouniya.
Months of fighting, heavy shelling and a breakdown of basic services made life unbearable.
On 6 June 2011, I returned home after a long working day just as fierce fighting and shelling overtook Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state.
