Syrians continue to discuss the results of the selection process for the first parliament in Syria in great detail, especially since it is the first after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s rule, which ended last week.

“Not a genuine direct election”

The spokesperson for the Supreme Committee for People’s Assembly Elections, Nawar Najm, stated that the process was neither an appointment nor a genuine direct election, explaining that it faced significant challenges.

He explained in a post on X that the first challenge was to establish a temporary electoral system convincingly, away from personalization and close to the concerns and opinions of the people, after realizing the inability to hold traditional direct elections due to logistical, demographic, and political circumstances.

He added that the second challenge was to satisfy the people amid a popular culture that changes loyalties, a common trait in Syrian history, according to him.

Nevertheless, he pointed out that correcting mistakes is better than stubbornly continuing them, and that respecting fundamental principles in the temporary electoral law may be more important than announcements of official or unofficial names, he said.

He also emphasized that the remarkable success witnessed at the ballot boxes was enough to reveal the diseases and weaknesses of Syrian society and to work on correcting them, acknowledging that Syria is still largely distant from women’s participation until mentalities change.

He noted that the revolution was present in the People’s Assembly with figures whose revolutionary credentials are unquestionable, with some exceptions, and figures whose competence is unquestionable, stressing the need for a fast parliamentary culture, new ideas, and a real ability and desire to transform the parliament into a real place for participation and diversity so that the circle does not narrow and the parliament does not turn into a political minority far from the people’s concerns and their basic needs, which can no longer wait and hinder the development train.

He concluded that there must be a real integration of society and a transition from the slogan “The people want to topple the regime” to the slogan “The people want to build the homeland.”

6000 people

It is worth noting that the process of selecting the first parliament in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad ended last Sunday.

About 6000 people participated in the selection of deputies, competing among more than 1500 candidates, only 14% of whom were women, for membership in the council, whose term will be renewable for 30 months, according to the Supreme Election Committee.

The upcoming parliament is to be formed by a mechanism defined by the constitutional declaration and not by direct elections from the people, as regional bodies formed by a supreme committee elected two-thirds of the council members, totaling 210, while the Syrian president will appoint the remaining third.

The selection of council members in the provinces of As-Suwayda, Raqqa (north), and Al-Hasakah (northeast) was postponed due to “security challenges,” according to the election committee’s previous announcement.