The Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the armed Islamist group that overthrew the Bashar al-Assad Regime in Syria in December 2024, has announced that the war-torn country would hold General Elections in September 2025. Mohammed Taha al-Ahmad, the Chairperson of the Higher Committee for People’s Assembly Elections of the HTS-led Interim Government, recently told the state news agency SANA that elections would take place between September 15 and 20, 2025. It would be the first election to be held under the new authorities after the fall of former President al-Assad.

It may be noted that Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa (also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani), the former rebel commander and HTS Chief, has been serving as the Interim President of Syria since January 2025. According to al-Ahmad, President al-Sharaa would appoint one-third of the 210 seats, while the rest would be elected. Talking to the media, Hassan al-Daghim, a senior member of the Election Committee, stressed that an Electoral College would be set up in each and every province to vote for the elected seats.

Interestingly, the Interim Government confirmed the date of Parliamentary Polls soon after sectarian violence between armed Bedouin clans and fighters from the Druze religious minority rocked the southern Province of Sweida, with the fighting claiming hundreds of innocent lives. Although the Syrian Government Forces intervened to normalise the situation, they effectively sided with the clans. Some government soldiers reportedly executed Druze civilians, apart from burning and looting their houses. The violence prompted Israel to launch airstrikes on Government Forces and also on the Syrian Defence Ministry headquarters. Tel Aviv defended its move, stating that the Israeli Forces wanted to protect the Druze minority.

Meanwhile, the al-Sharaa Administration has pledged broad representation, stating that it would allow foreign observers to monitor Electoral Committees overseeing the polls. In a statement, the Interim Government mentioned that areas outside government control, including Kurdish-held regions in northern part of Syria and the Druze-majority Province of Sweida, would continue to have seats allocated based on population. It also expressed hope that the new Parliament would lay the groundwork for a broader democratic process and to ensure sufficient participation from minority groups in this process. The House would also approve landmark legislation aimed at overhauling decades of state-controlled economic policies and ratify various treaties in order to reshape Syria’s foreign policy alliances.

However, experts are of the opinion that it would be difficult for Damascus to hold free and fair elections during this delicate transitional period. Omar Alhariri, an independent journalist from Syria, recently told TRT World: “After more than a decade of war, the Syrian population is scattered inside and outside the country. There is no updated census, no full civil registry and millions still lack proper ID documents.” He believes that the enormity of logistical challenges would not allow the concerned authorities to hold Parliamentary Elections in a proper manner under the current circumstances. “This is a temporary and limited solution – but for the government, it serves both internal and external purposes,” said Alhariri.

Read: Syria’s president has opened up a hornet’s nest and it’s tearing the country apart

For his part, Mustafa Yetim, the Professor of International Relations at Eskisehir Osmangazi University of Turkey, stated that the “indirect electoral exercise should be viewed as a positive development, despite its limitations“. “The mere possibility (of an election) marks a notable improvement compared to the country’s previous repressive Baathist Regime,” he told TRT World, referring to sham Parliamentary Elections held every four years under al-Assad’s rule.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact us: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das