Kuwait city: Syria will hold its first parliamentary elections on Sunday under the new government, which took the helm last December after toppling the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. The elections will include 11 governorates from 14 with Al-Suwaida in the south and Hasakah and Raqqa in the northwest not part of the elections due to the unstable security situation.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the elections feature 1,578 candidates, 14 percent of whom were women, in over 50 constituencies. Polls open at 09:00 am until they close with vote-counting starting at 04:00 pm. The Higher Committee for Parliamentary Elections announced on September 26 the final lists of candidates and eligible voters.
On August 20, Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa signed a decree approving the temporary electoral system for parliament to choose two-thirds of the members. The decree listed the conditions related to the process of elections, qualifications for candidacy in parliament and its committees as well as election committees. The decree stipulated that there should be 210 members in parliament with two-thirds of them chosen by election. President Al-Sharaa would appoint the remaining one-third of the members.
On June 13, the President signed a decree forming the Higher Committee for Parliamentary Elections based on the constitutional declaration, tasking the committee to run legislative matters until approving the constitution and holding the parliamentary election. The council was given authority for a 30-month term, renewable upon approval.
On March 13, Al-Sharaa signed the temporary constitutional declaration, which formulated the transitional period post-Assad regime fall including the tenets in which the new Syrian Arab Republic will stand upon, the rights of the people, public freedom, the formation of the legislative, executive, and judicial authorities, and laws until the lasting constitution was ratified.
Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, ending 61 years of the Ba'ath Party rule, Ahmad Al-Sharaa was proclaimed as President of the transitional period on January 29, which would last for five years. The 2012 constitution was abolished, parliament dissolved, and security apparatus and army were decommissioned.
The last Syrian election was held on July 15, 2024, with the 250 seats of parliament overwhelmed by candidates of the Ba'ath regime. Seven million people cast their votes of 19 million eligible voters.
The very first election was held in Syria on June 19, 1919, with the first legislative authority, the 85-member General Syrian Congress, taking several key decisions. During the French mandate on Syria, which lasted until 1946, several parliamentary councils were established. The Ba'ath Party came to authority on March 8, 1963, which led to the dissolving of parliament and the regime taking over legislative duties. Elections were reintroduced in 1973, a year after former President Hafez Al-Assad taking authority; however, the parliament was ruled by the National Progressive Front led by the Ba'ath Party, which won all elections.