Tight security as Syrians vote in first elections since Assad's ouster

Syria on Sunday held its first parliamentary elections, nearly a year after a rebel-led offensive unseated Bashar Al ssad.

The People’s Assembly will be tasked with passing a new elections law and constitution as the country moves through its post-Assad political transition after more than a decade of civil war.

Across the country, security forces were deployed around polling stations.

Inside, electoral college members entered polling booths to fill out their ballot papers with lists of names that were then placed in a sealed box until they were pulled out and counted in front of candidates, journalists and observers from the Syrian bar association.

There was no direct popular vote in this election. Two-thirds of the 210-member assembly seats will be elected through province-based electoral colleges, with seats distributed by population, while one-third will be appointed directly by interim President Ahmed Al Sharaa.

The new parliament will serve a 30-month term while preparing for future elections.

In theory, 7,000 electoral college members across 60 districts are eligible to vote for 140 seats, but elections were postponed indefinitely in Sweida province and in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces due to tensions between the local authorities and Damascus.

"There are many pending laws that need to be voted on so that we move forward with the process of building and prosperity,” Al Sharaa said in a speech after he was briefed on the election process at the National Library Center, where the polling took place in Damascus.

"Building Syria is a collective mission, and all Syrians must contribute to it,” Sharaa added.

Critics argue the elections fall short of full democracy, noting that the electoral college system may favour well-connected candidates, consolidating power within the interim government. But for others, the election was a sign of progress.

In Damascus, 490 candidates competed for 10 seats, with 500 voters in the electoral college.

When approached by election officials to join the electoral college, Lina Daaboul, a doctor in Damascus, said she initially refused, fearing the responsibility and the "ugly image” of past assemblies.

But after learning she’d only be part of the voting body, she agreed, calling it "a national duty.” She took her role seriously.

"I studied the profiles of many candidates and attended meetings. I didn’t stop there. I called people to ask about the candidates, their histories and what others thought of them,” she said.

On election day, she said, "This is the first time I’ve ever voted in my life. I’m happy, and I don’t mind standing in line for a long time.”

The interim authorities say a popular vote is impossible now due to the displacement of citizens and the loss of documents.

Lara Eezouki, a member of the national elections committee in Damascus, noted that the new assembly includes all sects and groups and said it's "the first time in Syria’s history that the ballot box truly rules - when the results are not prearranged.”

Comparing elections under Assad to those today, Rim Yajizi, a lawyer, member of Damascus’s electoral body and candidate for the People’s Assembly, said, "It’s enough to mention the freedom factor, the electoral statements and the debates we watched and participated in. We had never seen anything like it before.”

At Al Nasr Amphitheater in Aleppo, 220 candidates competed for 14 seats, with 700 voters in the electoral college.

"This is the first time in our lives we’ve participated in a democratic electoral process without outside pressure,” said Ibrahim Halabi, 33, from Aleppo, a former soldier under Assad’s rule who defected in 2012 after mass anti-government protests met by a brutal crackdown spiraled into civil war in 2011.

In Latakia city, a former Assad stronghold and home to the Alawite community, three Sunni candidates won the vote.

"All those who said that the situation in Latakia was good (before) are wrong,” said Rola Daya, one of the newly elected legislators.

"Of course, internal tensions remain - it will take time to resolve. Transitional justice is needed so we can move toward civil peace.”

Associated Press