The Tricky Business of Moving On: Syria Holds Its First Elections 

Last summer, Syrians went to the polls to choose their representatives in the legislature, or the president’s “clapping assembly,” in elections that were neither transparent nor free nor fair.  

Now, more than nine months after a rebel Islamist militia deposed the Syrian government and its leader, Bashar Assad, the country is trying to turn the page: On Oct. 5, some Syrians will be “indirectly” casting their votes for some representatives in the legislature.  

Proper elections are still years down the road, the government says. 

“The reality in Syria does not permit the holding of traditional elections, given the presence of millions of internally and externally displaced persons, the absence of official documents and the fragility of the legal structure,” said the Syrian government. 

After four decades of dictatorship and 14 years of civil war, such an election may not be enough but it’s a start, say analysts.

“This format is a straightforward political calculation,” wrote commentator Jasim Al-Azzawi for Al Jazeera. “It provides the new leadership with the assurance of a controlled outcome and avoids the challenges of organizing a nationwide vote at a time when Damascus does not have full control over all territories…” 

Birgit Schaebler of Germany’s University of Erfurt doubts that direct elections would even be possible, given the severely weakened infrastructure and logistics caused by years of civil war, lauding the Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, for sticking with the election date despite the issues, including severe sectarian violence. 

“He could have postponed it,” she told Deutsche Welle, referring to the president. “Yet the fact that he has not done so can certainly be seen as a positive sign.”  

In this election, votes for the 210-member People’s Assembly – 60 more than the current interim parliament, which was formed in March – will be cast by electoral committees, similar to an electoral college. Voting, however, won’t occur in three districts – those dominated by Kurdish and Druze minorities – due to security concerns, a move criticized by those communities. 

Meanwhile, one-third of the People’s Assembly seats will be appointed by al-Sharaa, something Syrian civil rights groups are pressing to change. 

The new parliament is to serve for three years: In that period, the hope is that legislators will lay the groundwork for a broader democratic transition, including direct elections and a permanent constitution, while they overhaul decades of state-controlled economic policies.  

The elections come as the public has become increasingly frustrated and divided in the wake of the initial unity and euphoria that prevailed after Assad’s ouster.  

Since then, there have been frequent and deadly outbreaks of violence across numerous regions that have threatened to unravel the fragile post-war transition.  

For example, in August, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces exchanged fire with Syrian government forces near Manbij in Kurdish-majority northeastern Syria. The conflict came just weeks after violence broke out between Druze and Sunni Bedouin groups in the south’s Sweida governorate, killing more than 1,400 people and displacing nearly 175,000. The government was accused of perpetrating some of that violence as it allied with Sunni tribes in a conflict that drew in Israel. 

And in the spring, groups loyal to Assad clashed with government forces and allied armed factions in the coastal governorates of Latakia and Tartus, dominated by the Alawite community. An estimated 1,400 people were killed, and more than 100,000 displaced.  

Meanwhile, Christians have also been targeted repeatedly in deadly attacks by militants, with many in the community now saying they want to leave the country.  

The elections are doing little to allay minority fears of being shut out of the new Syria, even as the leadership’s Islamist and authoritarian leanings are causing alarm among the Druze, Alawites, Christians, and Kurds, analysts say. 

That’s because critics maintain that the current system lacks sufficient participation from minority groups, while concentrating power in the country’s Islamist leaders. Already, the Alawite community has rejected the elections and called for a boycott, the Syrian Observer reported.  

“Syria’s legislative reboot is more than an administrative milestone – it is a test of the transitional government’s willingness to embrace pluralism and institutional reform,” wrote the United Kingdom’s Chatham House think tank. “Without genuine transparency and meaningful inclusion, the process risks becoming another top-down exercise that reinforces public cynicism over the government’s attempts to build a new, more pluralist Syria.”  

Part of the issue is that since taking over, al-Sharaa has had a long list of issues to address, mainly focused on reconstruction and economic development, and outreach to the international community. So far, he has managed to get numerous international sanctions on Syria and also the US’ terrorist designation on his armed militia lifted, and obtained financial, technical, and energy assistance and billions of dollars in investment pledges to help rebuild Syria’s security infrastructure and reconstruct the country.  

Earlier this month, he was the first Syrian leader in almost six decades to take part in the United Nations General Assembly, where he met with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. 

However, critics say that while international economic support is essential for rebuilding, and that struggling Syrians will eventually lose patience with his government if it can’t restore the economy and jobs quickly, it alone cannot bring unity to Syria or guarantee that another conflict won’t break out.  

One new development might, however, give a voice and representation to those minority groups with grievances and a relief value to the country – the burgeoning opposition. 

Currently, civil-society activists, including those who long opposed Assad, are building an organized opposition, calling for political reform, including allowing for political parties. As the Economist noted, it is the first stirring of coordinated opposition to the regime, and it just might save the country. 

“…in a functioning polity, the opposition can be a stabilizing force rather than a threat,” it wrote. “For fragile, divided Syria, that is the best chance of avoiding another descent into civil war.”