Syria Concludes Indirect Post‑Assad Parliamentary Vote

Syria has concluded its first parliamentary selection since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, using an indirect electoral-college/local-committee system in which roughly 6,000–8,000 electors chose 140 of the 210 People's Assembly seats while interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa will appoint the remaining 70. Voting was postponed or excluded in parts of the Kurdish-held northeast and the Druze-majority Sweida, leaving roughly 21–32 seats unfilled. Early tallies and reporting indicate the new assembly is dominated by Sunni men and former revolutionaries, with women holding about 4% of seats and only two Christians reported among winners. Critics say preapproved candidate lists, the electoral-college design and an electoral commission appointed by al-Sharaa make the process undemocratic and likely to consolidate power in the hands of the interim authorities. Supporters and some Syrians described the vote as a tentative step toward restoring governance and enabling reconstruction. The new People's Assembly will serve a 30-month mandate to draft a new constitution and an elections law ahead of future national polls.