Counting underway in Syria's first parliamentary elections since ouster of Assad

Vote counting is underway in Syria after the country’s first parliamentary elections since the ouster of long-time autocrat Bashar Assad last year. 

Preliminary results of Sunday's vote will be announced immediately but the official result is expected to be known either on Monday or Tuesday once counting is over according to Syrian News Agency SANA.

The People’s Assembly will be tasked with passing a new election law and constitution as the country moves through its post-Assad political transition after more than a decade of civil war.

Across the country, security forces were deployed around polling stations.

Inside, electoral college members entered polling booths to fill out their ballot papers with lists of names that were then placed in a sealed box until they were pulled out and counted in front of candidates, journalists and observers from the Syrian bar association.

There was no direct popular vote in this election.

Two-thirds of the 210-member assembly seats will be elected through province-based electoral colleges, with seats distributed by population, while one-third will be appointed directly by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The new parliament will serve a 30-month term while preparing for future elections.

In theory, 7,000 electoral college members across 60 districts are eligible to vote for 140 seats, but elections were postponed indefinitely in Sweida province and in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces due to tensions between the local authorities and Damascus.

“A lot of things are still pending in Syria that need to move forward," Al-Sharaa said on Sunday in a speech after he was briefed on the election process at the National Library Center, where the polling took place in Damascus. "Therefore, we did everything possible to reach the shortest period with maximum speed to fill the vacuum in representing the people in parliament.”

Critics argue the elections fall short of full democracy, noting that the electoral college system may favour well-connected candidates, consolidating power within the interim government. But for others, the election was a sign of progress.

In Damascus, 490 candidates competed for 10 seats, with 500 voters in the electoral college.