Syrians Vote in Parliamentary Elections, Excluding Rebel-Held Regions
Syrians are set to vote for a new parliament on Monday, the fourth election of its kind since the ongoing civil war erupted in 2011 following widespread government crackdowns on pro-democracy demonstrations. The 2024 parliamentary elections will see 1,516 government-approved candidates run for 250 seats in Syria’s People’s Assembly. Syrians will vote at one of the 8,000 polling stations across 15 voting districts.
President Bashar al-Assad’s government will not permit participation in the election in regions of Syria outside its control. This includes the rebel-held northwest region of the country, as well as the predominantly Kurdish northeast, which is governed by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
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Monday’s election also comes at a time of major economic frustration in war-ravaged Syria, with protests reportedly flaring up across the country, but especially in the Druze majority south, where some have even called for a boycott of the polls.
International observers called the 2021 reelection of Assad, Syria’s longtime authoritarian leader, a sham. He has ruled the country since 2000 and has been largely a pariah for over a decade, but in recent years, his relations with his neighbors have begun to thaw. In the last parliamentary vote, Assad’s Baath Party won 166 seats, in addition to 17 others from allied parties, while the rest went to independent candidates.
Members of the Syrian diaspora cannot participate in Monday’s legislative elections, unlike in Syria’s presidential elections. According to Western countries and Assad’s critics, the election will be neither free nor fair.
