Syria will hold parliamentary elections in September, said the head of a body tasked with organising the election process.
Mohammed Taha al-Ahmad, chairman of the Higher Committee for People’s Assembly Elections, told state news agency SANA on Sunday that elections will take place between September 15 and 20.
They will be the first to take place under the country’s new authorities after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December.
One-third of the 210 seats will be appointed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, with the rest to be elected.
In a recent interview with the Erem News site, another member of the elections committee, Hassan al-Daghim, said an electoral college will be set up in each of Syria’s provinces to vote for the elected seats.
Increasingly divided
A temporary constitution signed by al-Sharaa in March called for a People’s Committee to be set up to serve as an interim parliament until a permanent constitution is adopted and general elections held, a process that could take years.
The announcement of impending elections comes at a time when the country is increasingly divided in its views of the new authorities in Damascus after sectarian violence broke out in the southern province of Suwayda earlier this month.
The fighting killed hundreds of people and threatened to unravel Syria’s fragile postwar transition.
The violent clashes, which broke out two weeks ago, were sparked by tit-for-tat kidnappings between armed Bedouin clans and fighters from the Druze religious minority.
Syrian government forces intervened, ostensibly to end the fighting, but effectively sided with the clans.
Some government troops reportedly executed Druze civilians and burned and looted houses.
Israel intervened, launching air strikes on government forces and on the Defence Ministry headquarters. Israel said it was acting to defend the Druze minority.
