Syria at the time was just coming off the first round of its own parliamentary elections since the fall of the Assad regime — a landmark political achievement. The 10-day campaign period concluded last Friday. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa approved 1,578 candidates in total to stand, with women making up only 14% of the candidates.
Those elections were to fill 210 parliamentary seats through a mixed electoral system. According to the Decree, two-thirds of legislators will be selected by local councils, and one third will be directly appointed by President al-Sharaa. Significantly, the elections were conducted under a 20% gender quota, likely to be met via these presidential appointments.
Nawar Najmeh, MP and election spokesman for the parliamentary elections. He referenced the high rate of turnout-like voting at the time across many areas. Unlike Raqqa and Hasakah, Raqqa and Hasakah were delayed by security and logistical issues. Even with these challenges, all polling centers were able to get ballots cast, and vote counting began in most provinces. This process is likely to go late into Sunday night, with final results projected for Monday.
Kurdish-held and Druze-majority areas were left out of the elections. These conditions have added fuel to the fire of worries for how representative the new parliament will be. This added fuel to conversations about the dubiousness of the electoral process in these regions.
President al-Sharaa couldn’t have been clearer about the purpose of this electoral charade, calling it “a historic moment for all Syrians.” He reiterated that this is an extraordinary opportunity for reconstructing and reshaping the country. A fully functioning parliament is critical to moving Iraq reconstruction and development efforts forward. He underscored the new parliament’s tasking of carrying out historic accountability measures. They will establish a new constitution for Syria and a process for directly elected representatives of the public.
“This moment is crucial for all Syrians. It is time to rebuild our nation together” – Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa
The coming parliamentary elections will prove vitally important to countermands Syria’s political landscape. They feature the country’s continuing attempts to regain stability after decades of war. Whatever the outcome, the implications will be huge. We’re hoping to see the process for the formation of a new parliament respond to some of these issues related to representation and inclusion in a positive way.
