Syria will elect a new People’s Assembly on October 5, the first parliament to be chosen since the fall of Bashar al-Assad late last year, Al Jazeera reports.
The vote for members of the parliament will take place “across all electoral districts”, the state-run SANA news agency reported on Sunday.
A third of the assembly’s 210 seats will be appointed directly by President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The rest will be chosen by local committees supervised by the electoral commission. The chamber will be tasked with approving legislation aimed at overhauling decades of state-controlled economic policies and ratifying treaties that could reshape Syria’s foreign policy.
The new parliament is also expected to “lay the groundwork for a broader democratic process” following al-Assad’s removal in December after nearly 14 years of civil war, SANA said. Critics, however, warn that the current system does not adequately represent Syria’s marginalised communities.
Suwayda witnessed clashes in July between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes, while Hasakah and Raqqa remain partly under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
The document preserves a central role for Islamic law as well as guarantees women’s rights and freedom of expression. Opponents have expressed concern that the framework consolidates too much power in the hands of Syria’s leadership.
