Syria's de facto govt postpones parliamentary elections in three governorates

Suwayada is under siege after government forces attacked and killed some 1,000 Druze last month, while Hasakah and Raqqa are under SDF control  

News Desk - The Cradle 

Syria’s Supreme Election Committee announced on 23 August that it has postponed the voting process to elect members to the People’s Assembly in three of the country’s 14 governorates, citing “security challenges.”

Elections have been suspended in the governorates of Suwayda, Hasakah, and Raqqa, “given the security challenges these governorates are facing,” until “suitable conditions and a safe environment are available for conducting it,” a statement from the committee said. 

All three governorates are effectively outside the control of Damascus. “Their allocated seats will remain reserved until elections can be held in them as soon as possible,” the statement added.

Suwayda, a Druze-majority governorate in southern Syria, is currently under siege by government forces following their attack on the governorate in July.

According to the UN, forces loyal to the self-proclaimed President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former ISIS commander, killed at least 1,000 people in Suwayda, including at least 539 identified Druze civilians – among them 39 women and 21 children.

At least 196 people, including eight children and 30 women, were reportedly extrajudicially executed, and over 33 villages were burned.

Hasaka and Raqqa governorates are controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and their civilian arm, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).

The announcement to postpone the electoral process in three governorates came one day after committee head Muhammad Taha al-Ahmad told Sky News Arabia that procedures for the elections had been launched with the approval of Sharaa.

The Supreme Election Committee is overseeing the creation of local electoral bodies to choose two-thirds, or 140, of the 210 seats in the assembly, which will serve as Syria’s legislative body.

The remaining one-third, or 70 seats, will be appointed by presidential decree of Sharaa, the former ISIS commander who took power in Damascus after toppling former president Bashar al-Assad in December.

According to Al-Majalla, Syrians may only run for a seat in the People’s Assembly if they meet strict requirements, “most notably integrity, non-affiliation with the previous [Assad] regime, and commitment to national unity.”

According to Syrian journalist Hussam Hammoud, Sharaa’s ability to appoint assembly members and the rules determining who can be elected effectively negate its ability to function as a judicial body independent of the executive branch.

“By granting the president authority to appoint one-third of parliament, the decree entrenches executive dominance over legislation, contradicting the very idea of an independent legislature,” Hammoud wrote on the social media site X.

Decree 143, which regulates the election process, “uses vague definitions of who can be politically excluded, e.g., ‘supporters of the former regime’ or ‘advocates of division.’ Such terms allow authorities to sideline any opponent without legal standards or fair trial,” Hammoud added.