Elections in Syria

A civil war has been going on in Syria since 2011, following the events of the 2011 Syrian Revolution, which was part of the international wave of protest known as the Arab Spring. The government, headed by Bashar al-Assad, son of previous leader Hafez al-Assad, is based in Damascus, the traditional capital. The Ba'athist government conducts Presidential elections and parliamentary elections to the People's Council.

Politics of Syria

Arab League Member State of the Arab League

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The elections in Syria are rigged by the Ba'ath party and unanimously regarded as a sham process by independent, international observers. Electoral Integrity Project's 2022 Global report designates Syrian elections as a "facade" with the worst electoral integrity in the world alongside Comoros and Central African Republic.[1][2]

Latest elections

Presidential elections
Main article: 2021 Syrian presidential election

Parliamentary elections
Main article: 2020 Syrian parliamentary election

Local elections
Main article: 2022 Syrian local elections

Election process

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 previous 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.

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 2007. The new Syrian constitution of 2012, approved in popular referendum, nominally introduced a multi-party system that didnt specify leadership of any political party.[3] Nonetheless, Ba'ath party remains the sole arbitror in publicising electoral lists for candidacy.[4]

By theoretically permitting their activities, the government was able to mobilise 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 Ba'athification campaign has since been pursued with ideological vigour; by disbanding non-Ba'athist militias, sideling satellite parties of National Progressive Front and increasing Ba'athist representation in the People's Assembly.[5][6][7]

Article 88 of 2012 constitution introduced presidential electoral limits to a maximum of one re-election.[8] 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, Alawis and Christians. In 1949 the system was modified, giving women the right to vote.[9][10][11][12]

Election law

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.[13]

In March 2015, President Assad signed General Elections Law No.5 which replaced previous election laws.[14] 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, characterised by wide-scale rigging, repetitive voting and absence of voter registration and verification systems.[15][16][17]

References
  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. "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.
  4. 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)
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Lucas, Scott (25 February 2021). "How Assad Regime Tightened Syria's One-Party Rule". EA Worldview. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021.
  8. "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.
  9. Shora, Nawar (2009). The Arab-American Handbook: A Guide to the Arab, Arab-American & Muslim Worlds. Cune Press. ISBN 978-1-885942-47-0.
  10. Albert H. Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World, London, Oxford University Press, 1947 ISBN 0-404-16402-1
  11. Claude Palazzoli, La Syrie - Le rêve et la rupture, Paris, Le Sycomore, 1977 ISBN 2-86262-002-5
  12. 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
  13. President al-Assad Issues Legislative Decree on General Elections Law, SANA news agency
  14. Georges, Nael. "Election Law in Syria". The Legal Agenda. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  15. 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.
  16. 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)
  17. 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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