Parliamentary elections were scheduled to be held in Syria on 13 April 2020 to elect members of the
People's Council of Syria. However, on 14 March they were postponed to 20 May due to the
coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
. On 7 May, it was decided to postpone the elections until 19 July. Syria's parliamentary elections occur every four years, with the last held in
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
.
A total of 1,656 candidates ran for office, competing for all 250 seats in Syria's parliament.
Background
The previous parliamentary election was held on 13 April 2016, although its results were not recognized by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
. On 3 March 2020, President
Bashar al-Assad
Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...
issued a decree setting the date of the election to 13 April 2020. The decree stipulated that 127 of the 250 members of the People's Council were to be workers and farmers, while 123 were to be from other segments of the population. All were to be elected from 15 multi-member constituencies. The announcement came amid
a government offensive on
Idlib Governorate
Idlib Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة ادلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Idlib'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay province to the north, Aleppo Governorate to the east, Hama ...
, the last province mainly controlled by the
Syrian opposition
The Syrian opposition ( ar, المعارضة السورية ', ) is the political structure represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated Syrian anti-Assad groups with certain territorial control as an alternative Syrian gover ...
. The opposition
Syrian National Coalition
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces ( ar, الائتلاف الوطني لقوى الثورة والمعارضة السورية), commonly named the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) ( ar, الائتلاف الو ...
called the election a "theatrical election by the Assad regime" with millions uprooted or in exile.
In the months leading up to the election, there were heavy disputes within the Syrian government, as President Assad quarreled with the influential Maklouf family. Accordingly, pro-Assad factions attempted to weaken Maklouf allies, including the
Syrian Social Nationalist Party
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) or is a Syrian nationalist party operating in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. It advocates the establishment of a Greater Syrian nation state spanning the Fertile Crescent, including present- ...
(SSNP). The SSNP had previously acted as a kind of opposition within the government and was regarded as the country's most powerful party after the Ba'ath Party.
Besides the Ba'ath Party and the SSNP, the
Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash)
The Syrian Communist Party () is an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party in Syria. The party emerged from a split in the Syrian Communist Party in 1986, as formed by the anti-Perestroika faction led by Khalid Bakdash. Khalid B ...
was considered as a runner-up, as it had substantial grassroots support.
In addition, several candidates in the election were affiliated with or leaders of militias involved in the civil war, including
Baqir Brigade
The Baqir Brigade (''Liwa al-Baqir'', sometimes also ''Liwa al-Imam al-Baqir'' or ''Fawj al-Imam Baqir''), named after Shia Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, is a Syrian loyalist militia originating in the Aleppo Governorate that fights in the Syrian Civil ...
, ex-
Ba'ath Brigades
The Ba'ath Brigades ( ar, كتائب البعث, Katā'ib al-Baʿth), also known as the Ba'ath Battalions, were a volunteer militia made up of Syrian Ba'ath Party members, almost entirely of Sunni Muslims from Syria and many Arab countries, loya ...
,
Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
, and tribal militias.
One candidate was Madloul Omar al-Aziz, an ex-
al-Nusra Front
Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...
member who had defected to the government in course of the civil war.
Electoral system
The 250 seats of the
People's Council of Syria are elected through
party bloc voting in 15 multi-member constituencies. Voters in a riding choose a closed list of candidates that they cannot change from the proposed ones, and the one with the most votes wins all the seats at stake in the riding. Each list is made up of a minimum of two-thirds of
Ba'ath Party
The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...
candidates and half of workers and peasants, so that the total of the latter is 127 out of the total of 250 elected deputies.
In practice, committees appointed by a commission whose members are themselves chosen by the president decide on the validity of the candidacies of "workers and peasants," meaning the president has de facto control over who is allowed to run under that designation, and political parties other than the ruling Ba'ath Party are prohibited from criticising the national government or the Ba'ath Party under a ban on "weakening national sentiment". All members of the
National Progressive Front are also loyal to the Ba'ath Party.
Conduct
The electoral process was accessible to Syrians living in all areas held by the Syrian government, the
Syrian Democratic Forces
, war = the Syrian Civil War
, image = Flag of Syrian Democratic Forces.svgborder
, caption = Flag
, active = 10 October 2015 – present
, ideology = DemocracyDecentralizationSecularism ...
(SDF) allowed elections as well under joint government-SDF control, which is around 70% of the country's total territory. This made the 2020 election the first time since the beginning of the country's
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
in which a government-sponsored election was held in the provinces of
Raqqa
Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish languages, Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. T ...
,
Al-Hasakah
Al-Hasakah ( ar, ٱلْحَسَكَة, al-Ḥasaka; ku, Heseke/حەسەکە; syr, ܚܣܝܟܐ Hasake), is the capital city of the Al-Hasakah Governorate, in the northeastern corner of Syria. With a 2004 census population of 188,160, it is the e ...
and the government-controlled parts of
Idlib
ar, إدلبي, Idlibi
, coordinates =
, elevation_m = 500
, area_code = 23
, geocode = C3871
, blank_name = Climate
, blank_info ...
. Previously, the armed groups that controlled those areas did not allow the Syrian Government to organize elections within them.
However, the SDF did not allow the election to take place in areas under its exclusive rule, as they see an election prior to dialogue and agreement on a solution to the end of the civil war as premature.
The country's electoral authorities stated that the elections were fair, noting that candidates, their representatives and the media would be allowed to monitor the voting and vote counting process. The Syrian Opposition and armed rebel groups within it, which don't recognize the government at all, rejected the election completely and refused to take part in it, leaving the ruling coalition to face very little opposition at the polls.
The
Middle East Institute
The Middle East Institute (MEI) is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank and cultural center in Washington, D.C., founded in 1946. It seeks to "increase knowledge of the Middle East among the United States citizens and promote a better understan ...
claimed that "widespread electoral fraud" had taken place before and during the election. Aleppo candidate Fares Shehabi and the mostly Kurdish Youth and Justice Party protested on
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
against irregularities; Youth and Justice Party candidate Borween Ibrahim was consequently arrested.
As the election was held during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
in the country, voters had their temperature checked before being allowed into the voting premises, while election officials were required to wear masks and ensure that queues of voters observed
social distancing
In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disea ...
.
Unknown individuals detonated a bomb inside a polling center in
Busra al-Harir
Busra al-Harir ( ar, بصر الحرير ''Buṣra al-Ḥarīr'', also spelled ''Busr al-Hariri, Basr al-Harir, Busra Hariri'') is a town in southern Syria, part of the Daraa Governorate situated in the Hauran plain. It is located northeast of D ...
on election day, coinciding with two other bombings in the Syrian capital of
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
, which detonated near a mosque in the
Naher Aisha neighbourhood and killed at least one person.
Results
Results were delayed as they had to be re-run in 5 of the over 7,000 total voting districts. Voting was held in 70% of Syrian territory.
The nationwide turnout for the election was 33.17%, as 6,224,687 voters voted in the election. This represented a decline in turnout, which the Syrian government attributed to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Syria. Observers concurred that the deadly pandemic had significantly affected turnout, but added that the news of the election day bombings, wartime poverty and a lack of confidence in the ability of the parliament to end the crisis that had beset Syria since the start of the country's civil war were also major contributing factors to the low turnout.
There were several changes to the ethnic and religious makeup of parliamentary as a result of the election.
Four
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
were elected to the People's Council, an increase of one compared with the previous elections.
The country's large Kurdish minority received six seats, a "token increase" from 2016.
Druze
The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...
received eight seats, though six of these were Ba'ath Party loyalists unlike in the 2016 election, where opposition-leaning Druze had received more support. There was a marginal increase in Alawite, Sunni, and
Murshidi MPs. The number of Christian representatives declined from 22 to 18.
The pro-government
National Progressive Front and its allies won 183 of the 250 seats. Overall, the NPF lost seats, particularly due to the SSNP suffering heavy losses, being reduced to three seats. These were attributed to the clashes between Assad and the SSNP before the election. The Ba'ath Party received 66.8% of the seats, registering victory. Militia representatives running as independents won several seats.
In addition, candidates affiliated with Syrian First Lady
Asma al-Assad won several seats which was interpreted by observers as showcasing her growing influence within the Syrian government.
In addition, the election resulted in a reduced representation of women, as 27 female candidates secured a seat, compared to 32 in 2016.
The
First Hussein Arnous government
The first government of Hussein Arnous was formed on 30 August 2020 and took the oath of office on 2 September 2020. A new Council of Ministers was formed by Hussein Arnous at the appointment of President Bashar al-Assad. This government was t ...
was formed in the months after the election. The
Second Hussein Arnous government
The second government of Hussein Arnous was formed after appointment by the President of Syria on 10 August 2021 and took the oath of office on 14 August 2021, after the presidential election held in May. This replaced the caretaker ministry f ...
was formed the following year.
References
{{Syrian Civil War
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
Parliamentary election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
Parliamentary election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
Parliamentary elections in Syria
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results