Syrian parliamentary poll 'not ideal' but will lead to pluralistic future, says elections official

Legislature will exclude former regime loyalists, Mohammad Al Wali tells The National

Election posters of Henry Hamra, a Syrian-American parliamentary candidate who, if elected, will be the first Jewish representative in the Syrian parliament since the late 1940s. AFP

The upcoming poll on Sunday to choose Syria’s first post Bashar Al Assad parliament lacks wide representation, but will eventually provide for a more pluralistic system as part of a five-year transition from the old regime, a member of an official commission overseeing the process told The National.

“We are not saying this is the ideal model. But it is the possible one at this stage and it guarantees the gains of the Syrian Revolution,” said Muhamed Wali, one of the 11 members of the Higher Committee for the People's Assembly Elections, appointed by President Ahmad Al Shara in June.

Mr Wali said it is crucial to bring in the legislature as quickly as possible to amend laws enacted by the former “ruling gang”, which employed parliament to create a “system of corruption”. Without legal reform, accountability will remain weak and Syria cannot recover, he said, expecting the 210-member assembly to be sworn in this month.

Voting and running for the new parliament has been limited to 6,050 people appointed by the commission, after it held consultations with local communities, and took into consideration the diversity of Syria, Mr Wali said. Lack of updated national data, problems Syrians have with personal documents, mostly relics of the civil war, as well as instability, have prevented wider elections, he said.

People in Damascus view election posters of Henry Hamra, a Syrian-American parliamentary candidate. AFP

Among the 6,050 people who will vote, 1,578 have also declared themselves as candidates for 140 seats. Mr Al Shara will directly appoint the rest of the 210-member body.

Mr Al Wali would not be drawn on the religious and ethnic composition of the 6,050 electors and the candidates among them.

"They reflect Syrian society", he said in an interview with The National.

Around a quarter of the mostly Sunni population were ethnic or religious minorities before the 2011 civil war, when the population numbered around 22 million.

One candidate, an Alawite, was assassinated this week in his home region of Tartus on the Alawite coast, the heartland of the minority sect whose members dominated Syria for six decades.

Back in March 2011, the country became the last in the wave of Arab uprisings. The authorities killed thousands of civilians in a crackdown on a peaceful protest movement, and by the end of the year, Syria was in civil war.

In December 2024, Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), a splinter group of Al Qaeda headed by current Syrian leader Ahmad Al Shara, ousted the former regime, ushering Sunni political ascendancy. Syria also became the only country among the Arab uprisings where the security apparatus completely collapsed and was replaced by a new one.

Following a 'national dialogue' conference earlier this year, Mr Al Shara started a transition from authoritarianism. However, he did not make an outright commitment to democracy, amid mass sectarian killings by forces loyal to his government.

The bloodshed encouraged demands by minorities in the south and east of the country for self administration, which he has rejected. The poll on Sunday will exclude the mostly Druze province of Sweida and areas in the north and east of the country under the control of the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces SDF.

“We want people in parliament who reflect the (political) reality, and the sacrifices of Syrians," Mr Wali said, adding that the new legislature will not have anyone who "supported the former regime or belongs to terrorist groups”.

The assembly will have a lifespan of 30 months, which can be renewed for another 30. However, it will name a committee to draft a new constitution “to allow for free, direct and general elections for the parliament and the presidency,” said Mr Wali, without predicting a timetable.

Syria has not had a comprehensive, democratic election in decades.