Syria's parliament held its inaugural session and elected a speaker on Sunday after its planned Monday opening was postponed.
The process solidifies President Ahmad Al Shara’s role as the man steering Syria towards what he described as a transformation to a pluralistic system.
The President swore in the members, who then elected Abdul Hamid Al Awak, a lawyer, as Parliamentary Speaker. He headed the committee appointed by Mr Al Shara last year to draft a constitutional declaration as part of a five-year political transition plan.
Mr Al Shara told the parliament that it was part of a phase of “strengthening the institutions” of the state, and that the “new Syria” would be based on “competence” and the rule of law.
His address to parliament, broadcast on state media, was met with neither chants nor a standing ovation from the MPs, which had been the norm during the Assad era.
The first session of the People's Assembly was held days after two bomb blasts in Damascus during French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to the capital on Tuesday.
One MP said the deputies were taken from hotels to the parliament hall amid tight security measures, and were kept in the dark about the timing of the session.
The formation of a new parliament is seen as a vital step in Syria's transition from decades of autocratic rule by the family of former president Bashar Al Assad. He was toppled by rebel forces led by Mr Al Shara in December 2024, after almost 14 years of civil war.
Mr Al Shara appointed one third of the 220-member parliament earlier this month, while the rest were elected in October by 6,000 people chosen by the authorities. Most of the members are from Syria's Sunni majority.
The constitutional declaration gives the parliament limited authority, mainly the power to approve legislation, while foreign policy, the military, cabinet formation and appointments of senior officials remain under the purview of the President. Laws will now have to pass through parliament rather than be issued directly by Mr Al Shara.
According to the transition plan, the parliament will approve a new constitution and a new electoral law by the end of 2028. Mr Al Shara has promised popular elections by 2029.
Mr Al Shara had described the process as suiting “the phase Syria is undergoing”, pointing out that legal reforms and government budgets need a legislature. Officials said it would take time to draw up electoral rolls, given the number of people who fled abroad or were displaced during the war.
Passing a draft transitional justice law, prepared by a special commission appointed by Mr Al Shara, will be a priority, the sources said.
Trials have begun for members of the former regime accused of committing or supporting killings and other crimes, mostly during the 2011 to 2024 civil war. A bomb blast at a cafe next to the Palace of Justice, where the trials are taking place, killed 10 people, mostly lawyers. Authorities did not say who could have been behind the explosion.
Three seats reserved for the governorate of Sweida remained vacant in the new assembly. In July last year, the authorities launched a military campaign to subdue the mostly Druze province. An Israeli military intervention halted the attack, in which hundreds of civilians, mostly Druze, were killed.
The parliament was supposed to open on July 7, but the session was postponed to forge consensus on its speaker and other organisational issues, according to political sources.
Syria remains in a stabilisation phase, with the economy and infrastructure still in ruins. The national currency, which collapsed in the final years of the former regime, remains at 13,000 pounds to the dollar compared to the pre-civil war rate of 50 Syrian pounds to the dollar.
Electricity is in short supply, although less so than during the war. A fuel shortage developed this month, with the Energy Ministry attributing it to transportation delays from storage depots.
On Sunday, the country’s Emergency and Disasters Ministry said that a ferry operating on the Euphrates River in eastern Syria collided overnight with a makeshift bridge, causing three children to drown. Rescue teams were looking for an unknown number of missing people who were on board.
