Syria’s first parliamentary elections, after ousting Assad
INTERNATIONAL – ASIA
6 OCTOBER 2025
- Syria held its first parliamentary elections, nearly a year after a rebel-led offensive unseated longtime autocratic leader Bashar al-Assad.
- The 210-member 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, 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 with Damascus.
