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Elections in Syria

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Politics of Syria

Arab League Member State of the Arab League

Constitution
Human rights
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Subdivisions
Elections
Foreign relations

A civil war has been occurring in Syria since 2011, following the events of the 2011 Syrian Revolution, part of the international wave of protest known as the Arab Spring. The government, led by Bashar al-Assad, son of previous leader Hafez al-Assad, was based in Damascus until its overthrow on 8 December 2024, the traditional capital. The Ba'athist government conducted Presidential elections and parliamentary elections to the People's Assembly.

Many claimed that the elections in Ba'athist-era Syria are compromised by the Ba'ath party. Electoral Integrity Project's 2022 Global report designates elections durong the Ba'athist-era as a "facade" with the worst electoral integrity in the world alongside Comoros and Central African Republic.[1][2]

Latest elections

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Presidential elections

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Main article: 2021 Syrian presidential election

Parliamentary elections

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Main article: 2024 Syrian parliamentary election

Local elections

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Main article: 2022 Syrian local elections

Election process

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Syria elects on a national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The People's Council (Majlis al-Sha'ab) has 250 members elected for a four-year term in 15 multi-seat constituencies. According to the Syrian constitution of 1973, Syria was a form of one-party state in which only one political party, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was legally allowed to hold effective power. A series of presidential elections organized by the cadres of the Ba'ath Party has been held every seven years since Bashar al-Assad's ascension to Presidency in 2000, which he regularly wins with overwhelming majority of votes. The elections are unanimously regarded by independent observers as a sham process and boycotted by the opposition.[a][b]

Elections are officially designated as the event of "renewing the pledge of allegiance" to the Assad family and the state enforces voting as a compulsory duty on every citizen. Announcement of the results are followed by Ba'athist rallies conducted across the country extolling the regime, wherein supporters declare their "devotion" to the President and celebrate "the virtues" of Assad dynasty.[15][16][17] Although minor parties were allowed, they were legally required to accept the leadership of the dominant party. The presidential candidate was appointed by the parliament, on suggestion of the Baath Party, and needed to be confirmed for a seven-year term in a national single-candidate referendum. The most recent presidential referendum took place in 2021. The last two elections - held in 2014 and 2021 - were conducted only in areas controlled by the Syrian government during the country's ongoing civil war and condemned by the United Nations (UN).[18][19][20]

The new Syrian constitution of 2012, approved after a referendum, nominally specified a multi-party system that didn't designate vanguard role to any political party.[21] Nonetheless, Ba'ath party remains the sole arbitrer in publicizing electoral lists for candidacy.[22] By theoretically permitting their activities, the government was able to mobilize recruits and militias from anti-opposition political parties at a time when regime's prospects for survival looked bleak in the Syrian civil war. Once Assad regime gained military edge in its favour, the state relinquished the accommodations and effectively restored the one-party state. An intense Baathification campaign has since been pursued with ideological vigor; by disbanding non-Ba'athist militias, sideling satellite parties of National Progressive Front and increasing Ba'athist representation in the People's Assembly.[23][24][25]

Article 88 of 2012 constitution introduced presidential electoral limits to a maximum of one re-election.[26] During the French Mandate and after the independence, the parliamentary elections in Syria have been held under a system similar to the Lebanese one, with fixed representation for every religious community, including Druzes, Alawites and Christians. In 1949 the system was modified, giving women the right to vote.[27][28][29][30]

In December 2024, Syria’s transitional government, led by HTS after Assad's removal, faces delays in elections and constitution drafting, amid concerns over its Islamist origins and future governance direction.[31]

Election law

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In August 2011, President Assad signed Decree No. 101 on amending the General Elections Law. The Law stipulates that elections are to be held with public, secret, direct and equal voting where each Syrian voter, eighteen years and older, has one vote. The Law does not allow army members and policemen in service to participate in elections. It also provides for forming a higher judicial committee for elections, with its headquarters in Damascus to monitor the elections and ensure its integrity, in addition to forming judicial sub-committees in every Syrian province affiliated with the higher committee.[32]

In March 2015, President Assad signed General Elections Law No.5 which replaced previous election laws.[33] People's Assembly has been increasingly packed with Ba'athist army officers and commanders of Ba'ath Brigades since the 2016 elections, as part of the state policy to instill militarism in the society. Elections are a sham process, characterized by wide-scale rigging, repetitive voting and absence of voter registration and verification systems.[34][35][36]

Notes

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  1. ^ Sources:[3][4][5][6][7][8]
  2. ^ Sources:[9][10][11][12][13][14]

References

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  1. ^ "Electoral Integrity Global Report 2019-2021". Electoral Integrity Project. May 2022. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022.
  2. ^ Garnett, S. James, MacGregor, Holly Ann, Toby, Madison . (May 2022). "2022. Year in Elections Global Report: 2019-2021. The Electoral Integrity Project" (PDF). Electoral Integrity Project. University of East Anglia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Syrians Vote For Assad in Uncontested Referendum". The Washington Post. Damascus. Associated Press. 28 May 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  4. ^ Yacoub Oweis, Khaleb (2007-05-17). "Syria's opposition boycotts vote on Assad". Reuters. Damascus. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  5. ^ Klatell, James (27 May 2007). "Syrians Vote in Presidential Referendum". CBS News.
  6. ^ Chulov, Martin (14 April 2014). "The one certainty about Syria's looming election – Assad will win" The Guardian.
  7. ^ "Syria's Assad wins another term". BBC News. 29 May 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  8. ^ "Democracy Damascus style: Assad the only choice in referendum". The Guardian. 28 May 2007.
  9. ^ Cheeseman, Nicholas (2019). How to Rig an Election. Yale University Press. pp. 140–141. ISBN 978-0-300-24665-0. OCLC 1089560229.
  10. ^ Norris, Pippa; Martinez i Coma, Ferran; Grömping, Max (2015). "The Year in Elections, 2014". Election Integrity Project. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2020. The Syrian election ranked as worst among all the contests held during 2014.
  11. ^ Jones, Mark P. (2018). Herron, Erik S; Pekkanen, Robert J; Shugart, Matthew S (eds.). "Presidential and Legislative Elections". The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190258658.001.0001. ISBN 9780190258658. Retrieved 21 May 2020. unanimous agreement among serious scholars that... al-Assad's 2014 election... occurred within an authoritarian context.
  12. ^ Makdisi, Marwan (16 July 2014). "Confident Assad launches new term in stronger position". Reuters. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  13. ^ Evans, Dominic (28 April 2014). "Assad seeks re-election as Syrian civil war rages". Reuters. Retrieved 13 March 2015.[dead link‍]
  14. ^ "UK's William Hague attacks Assad's Syria elections plan". BBC News. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  15. ^ Klatell, James (27 May 2007). "Syrians Vote in Presidential Referendum". CBS News. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017.
  16. ^ Black, Ian (28 May 2007). "Democracy Damascus style: Assad the only choice in referendum". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017.
  17. ^ Chulov, Martin (13 April 2014). "The one certainty about Syria's looming election – Assad will win". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 June 2017.
  18. ^ "Syrians in Lebanon battle crowds to vote for Bashar al-Assad". The Guardian. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  19. ^ "Bashar al-Assad sworn in for a third term as Syrian president". The Daily Telegraph. 16 July 2014. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  20. ^ Kossaify, Ephrem (22 April 2021). "UN reiterates it is not involved in Syrian presidential election". Arab News. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021.
  21. ^ "SANA Syrian News Agency - Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic Approved in Popular Referendum on February 27, 2012, Article 8". Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  22. ^ Awad, Favier, Ziad, Agnès (30 April 2020). "Elections in Wartime: The Syrian People's Council (2016-2020)" (PDF). European University Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 January 2021 – via cadmus.eui.eu. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ Abdul-Jalil, Moghrabi, Murad, Yamen (3 July 2020). "Al-Assad attempts to boost "Ba'ath" vigor to tighten control". Enab Baladi. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Shaar, Akil, Karam, Samy (28 January 2021). "Inside Syria's Clapping Chamber: Dynamics of the 2020 Parliamentary Elections". Middle East Institute. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Lucas, Scott (25 February 2021). "How Assad Regime Tightened Syria's One-Party Rule". EA Worldview. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021.
  26. ^ "SANA Syrian News Agency - Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic Approved in Popular Referendum on February 27, 2012, Article 88". Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  27. ^ Shora, Nawar (2009). The Arab-American Handbook: A Guide to the Arab, Arab-American & Muslim Worlds. Cune Press. ISBN 978-1-885942-47-0.
  28. ^ Albert H. Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World, London, Oxford University Press, 1947 ISBN 0-404-16402-1
  29. ^ Claude Palazzoli, La Syrie - Le rêve et la rupture, Paris, Le Sycomore, 1977 ISBN 2-86262-002-5
  30. ^ Nikolaos van Dam, The Struggle For Power in Syria: Politics and Society Under Asad and the Ba'th Party, London, Croom Helm, 1979 ISBN 1-86064-024-9
  31. ^ "Syria's de facto leader says holding elections could take up to four years". The Telegraph. 29 December 2024. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  32. ^ President al-Assad Issues Legislative Decree on General Elections Law, SANA news agency
  33. ^ Georges, Nael. "Election Law in Syria". The Legal Agenda. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  34. ^ Shaar, Akil, Karam, Samy (28 January 2021). "Inside Syria's Clapping Chamber: Dynamics of the 2020 Parliamentary Elections". Middle East Institute. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ Awad, Favier, Ziad, Agnès (30 April 2020). "Elections in Wartime: The Syrian People's Council (2016-2020)" (PDF). European University Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 January 2021 – via cadmus.eui.eu. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  36. ^ Abdel Nour, Aymen (24 July 2020). "Syria's 2020 parliamentary elections: The worst joke yet". Middle East Institute. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021.
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