Syria shares results of first parliamentary poll amid inclusivity concerns | Syria’s War News

Election marks landmark second in nation’s post-war transition, however vote is postponed in Druze and Kurdish areas.

Syria has printed the outcomes of its first parliamentary election because the authorities of former President Bashar al-Assad was toppled, revealing that the majority new members of the revamped Folks’s Meeting are Sunni Muslim and male.

Electoral fee spokesperson Nawar Najmeh instructed a press convention on Monday that solely 4 p.c of the 119 members chosen within the oblique vote have been ladies and solely two Christians have been among the many winners, sparking issues about inclusivity and equity.

The election represents a landmark second within the nation’s fragile transition after practically 14 years of battle, however critics say it favours well-connected figures and is prone to hold energy concentrated within the arms of Syria’s new rulers, moderately than paving the way in which for real democratic change.

Information company AFP cited Najmeh as saying that the variety of ladies within the parliament was “not proportionate to the standing of girls in Syrian society and their position in political, financial and social life”.

He known as the illustration of Christians “weak, contemplating the proportion of Christians in Syria”.

The authorities resorted to an oblique voting system moderately than common suffrage, alluding to an absence of dependable inhabitants knowledge following the battle, which killed lots of of hundreds of Syrians and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Sunni Muslims make up an estimated 75 p.c of Syrians. The previous al-Assad regime, which was overthrown in December after a virtually 14-year civil battle, was largely headed by Syrians from the Alawite minority.

Sunday’s vote noticed round 6,000 members of regional electoral schools select candidates from preapproved lists, a part of a course of to supply practically two-thirds of the brand new 210-seat physique. President Ahmed al-Sharaa will later choose the remaining third.

Citing safety and political causes, authorities postponed the vote in areas outdoors authorities management, together with Kurdish-held components of Syria’s north and northeast, in addition to the province of Suwayda, held by the Druze minority. These suspensions left 21 seats empty.

Najmeh was cited by information company AFP as saying the state was “critical” about having “supplementary ballots” to fill the meeting’s seats.

Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid stated: “In the event you ask the Druze within the south or the Kurds within the north, they are saying [the elections] weren’t consultant.

“In the event you ask folks in main cities, like Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, and different components of the nation, they’re hopeful that that is the primary style of an actual election.”

On March 10, Syria’s Kurds and Damascus agreed to combine Kurdish-administered civil and navy establishments within the nation’s northeast into the state by the 12 months’s finish, however negotiations on implementing the deal have stalled.

Delays in implementing the March 10 settlement meant there have been no timetables as but for ballots in Raqqa and Hasakeh, in accordance with Najmeh.

Najmeh stated that the president’s alternative would maybe “compensate” for some underrepresented elements of Syrian society, however he rejected the concept of a quota-based system.

Political and rights activist Nour al-Jandali, who was chosen for a seat in central Syria’s metropolis of Homs, was quoted by AFP as saying the brand new lawmakers “have an amazing duty”.

She famous challenges the brand new legislature faces, together with “how we re-establish a state constructed on freedom, citizenship and justice”, including that “ladies will need to have an actual and lively position” in drafting public coverage.