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 Syria’s constitution was also repealed, and the Assad-era army and security forces were dissolved, as were armed groups including Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.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.
It's not (only) about you.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we'll remove all ads from your page and you'll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this