Syria: Formation of the First Parliament in Indirect Voting

SadaNews - The Syrian authorities are preparing, on Sunday, to form the first parliament since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime, a step that represents the beginning of the legislative process for the transitional authority led by President Ahmad al-Shar'a.

The formation of the parliament is taking place through an indirect mechanism, where regional electoral bodies choose two-thirds of the members of the council, which has a total of 210 seats, while President Ahmad al-Shar'a retains the authority to appoint the remaining third.

This electoral system also came with the exclusion of three governorates for reasons described by officials as "security," leaving 19 seats vacant.

A total of 1,578 candidates are competing in this election, only 14% of whom are women, including the Syrian-American candidate Henry Hamra, the son of the last rabbi to leave Syria in the 1990s, making him the first candidate from the Jewish community in nearly seven decades.

Approximately 6,000 voters from the regional bodies are scheduled to vote to choose the members of parliament, with ballot boxes closing on Sunday evening, and results are expected to be announced on the same day. However, the legislative body will not officially form until the remaining third is appointed by the president.

The authorities justify this system by stating that it resulted from the difficulties of conducting general elections due to the displacement of millions of Syrians and the lack of accurate population data in the country.

However, the electoral process has drawn widespread criticism from human rights advocates and civil organizations, who argue that granting President al-Shar'a the authority to appoint 70 deputies out of 210 may turn the council into a politically monochromatic body and weaken the principle of plurality.

Fourteen Syrian organizations have also criticized this vote, describing it as a formality aimed at granting the president near-absolute control over the parliament, while the selection of deputies from minorities or women may attempt to cover this influence with a diverse façade, but does not change the actual control of the executive authority over the legislative body.

The formation of the parliament comes at a critical stage for Syria, following a 14-year war that led to the collapse of national infrastructure, the displacement of millions of citizens, and a rise in sectarian violence that weakened trust among the various components of the Syrian people.

This parliament is a real test of the legitimacy of the transitional authority in Damascus and its ability to represent all segments of the Syrian people, ensuring effective participation of minorities in the political process, amid significant economic, social, and political challenges facing the country after the overthrow of Assad.