Syria’s Parliamentary Elections

The 2025 Syrian parliamentary elections are another round of voting that might contribute to consolidating or weakening the authority of the new regime in Syria. While many analysts expected that Syria would need a few years to hold the first parliamentary elections due to the severely devastated economy, the new regime wanted to hold these elections as soon as possible to consolidate its legitimacy, which is still under questioning by the Kurds and the Druze. Holding elections less than a year after the fall of the Assad regime indicates that the new Syrian regime is willing to constitutionally consolidate power while seeking to maximise its international recognition to face internal challenges.   The elections will fill a 210-seat People’s Assembly, replacing the temporary Legislative Council that was set up after Assad’s fall. Unlike the elections we used to see under the Ba’athist regime, this one is being presented as part of a roadmap toward stability. Currently, the country suffers sectarian tensions, high levels of displacement, and some armed groups are still operating outside the authority of the country, which might lead some organisations to question the fairness of these elections.