Syrians vote for next parliament, widely expected to extend Assad's term

Syrians were voting for members of a new parliament in an election Monday that was expected to hold few surprises but could pave the way for a constitutional amendment to extend the term of President Bashar Assad.

The vote is the fourth in Syria since mass anti-government protests and a brutal crackdown by security forces spiraled into an ongoing civil war in 2011.

There are 1,516 government-approved candidates running this year for the 250-seat People's Assembly.

The number of eligible voters has not been announced. In parliamentary elections, unlike presidential elections, the millions of diaspora Syrians — whose numbers have ballooned since the civil war — are not eligible to vote.

Some 8,151 polling stations were set up in 15 voting districts in government-held areas.

In the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida, where anti-government protests have been taking place regularly for nearly a year, many called for a boycott of the polls. Videos posted online showed protesters seizing ballot boxes off a truck in an attempt to stop them arriving to polling stations.

Elsewhere, campaigning was low key and candidates' campaigns largely revolved around general slogans such as national unity and prosperity.

Assad's Baath Party won 166 seats in the 2020 elections, representing nearly two-thirds of its membership, in addition to 17 members from allied parties. Another 67 seats went to independent candidates.

Vladimir Pran, an independent adviser on transitional political and electoral processes, said the competitive part of the Syrian election process comes before voters go to the polls, during the Baath Party primary process, when party members vote on which candidates' names are sent to the party's central command to make the final list.

"Elections are really already finished... with the end of the primary process," he said. Once the Baath party list is completed, "you can check the list and the results, and you will see that literally all of them will be in the Parliament."

The number of incumbents who made the final list this year was relatively low, suggesting a reshuffling within the Baath party.

Maroun Sfeir, a consultant on transitional electoral and political processes, said the 169 candidates put forward by the Baath party alone is past the margin of 167 MPs needed to propose a constitutional amendment, protect the president from being accused of treason and veto legislation.

Adding to that 16 candidates from Baath-allied parties running on the same list, he said, "you're only three MPs short of three quarters of the parliament, which is required for (passing) a constitutional amendment."

While that leaves 65 slots open for independent candidates, Sfeir said they should not be expected to present a real opposition bloc.

"They are all pre-vetted... to ensure that they're all loyal or without any threat," he said.

With Assad facing term limits that would end his presidency in 2028, the next parliament is widely expected to try to pass a constitutional amendment to extend his term.