Syria’s interim president Sharaa says elections could take up to 5 years to organize

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa says organizing elections could take up to five years, the week after he was appointed interim president and less than two months after ousting Bashar al-Assad.

“My estimate is that the period of time will be approximately between four and five years until the elections,” Sharaa says in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on a private Syrian television channel.

In late December, he told Al Arabiya TV the election process could take four years.

The infrastructure for the vote “needs to be re-established, and this takes time,” Sharaa adds.

He also promises “a law regulating political parties,” adding that Syria will be “a republic with a parliament and an executive government.”

Sharaa has been tasked with forming an interim legislature and the Assad-era parliament was dissolved, along with the Baath party which ruled Syria for decades. Syria’s constitution was also repealed, and the Assad-era army and security forces were dissolved, as were armed groups including Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

A transitional government has been installed to steer Syria until March 1.