The “Supreme Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and the Diaspora,” headed by Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal, announced on Thursday, September 18, its rejection of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Syria.
In a statement, the council’s Coordination and Public Relations Office said that the People’s Assembly being promoted by what it described as the “de facto authority” lacks any national or representative legitimacy.
It added that this “entity” does not reflect the will of the Syrian people but is directly managed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, serving as an extension of an illegitimate transitional authority with no popular mandate.
The statement came after the Supreme Committee for the People’s Assembly Elections announced the initial lists of eligible voters in electoral districts across the provinces.
Committee spokesperson Nawar Najmeh said on Thursday that the preliminary voter lists had been issued, and citizens can submit objections starting today. The committee clarified that appeals against these lists would be accepted on September 18, 19, and 20.
The Alawite Council stressed that “the circumstances under which this assembly is imposed strip it of legitimacy.” It rejected the ongoing political process, saying it is “conducted in a coercive environment that prevents the people from determining their own destiny.”
The council called on Syrians inside and outside the country, particularly in Damascus, the coastal region, Homs, Hama, and their countryside, not to participate in the elections.
Najmeh, the election committee spokesperson, said the voter bodies include “broad representation of all components and sects of the Syrian people, including the Jewish community in Damascus.”
He added that the appeals stage and public oversight were the committee’s final tools to prevent supporters of the former regime from infiltrating the electoral bodies, urging citizens to help detect any errors in candidate eligibility.
Criticism of government neglect
On September 13, the Alawite Council accused the Syrian government of deliberately ignoring the Alawite community.
Mona Ghanem, spokesperson for the council’s Coordination and Public Relations Office, said the current Syrian authority, which she described as the “de facto authority,” had deliberately sidelined the Alawite community since taking power.
She noted that Syria’s transitional president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, had never met with any Alawite groups.
Ghanem welcomed Kurdish and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) protection of coastal areas but warned against resettling non-Syrians in Alawite-majority regions.
On the issue of federalization of the Syrian coast, she stressed that no steps had been taken toward such a project, and said it should instead be part of a comprehensive, UN-supervised political process involving all Syrians.
Self-Administration rejects elections
On August 24, the Autonomous Administration in northeastern Syria also issued a statement rejecting the parliamentary elections, calling them “a superficial step unrelated to democracy and unrepresentative of the Syrian people’s will.”
The statement said Syrians had sacrificed for justice, freedom, equality, and the right to free elections, but what is happening today is a continuation of exclusionary policies that have persisted for more than five decades.
The ongoing electoral process, it added, excludes nearly half of Syrians due to forced displacement and systematic policies preventing active participation in shaping the country’s future, making the elections irrelevant to the requirements of a comprehensive political solution.
The statement concluded that Syria’s solution “will not come through reproducing old policies but through a comprehensive political path involving all Syrians, in their diversity and free will, toward a democratic, pluralistic, and decentralized Syria that guarantees rights and opens the door to peace and stability.”
Rights groups criticize electoral system
On September 15, a group of Syrian human rights organizations issued a “position paper” criticizing Decree No. 143 of 2025, which introduced the temporary electoral law for the People’s Assembly.
The paper noted that the decree stipulates electing two-thirds of MPs through electoral bodies, while the remaining third is directly appointed by the president. It also grants the president the power to name replacements for MPs who lose their seats, giving him direct influence over the Assembly’s composition.
The organizations argued that the decree contains structural flaws that fall short of even minimum international standards for representation and political participation. The language of the decree, they warned, grants the executive broad control over the Assembly’s formation, limiting citizen and marginalized group participation.
They said these powers allow the president to form a parliamentary majority of loyalists, undermining pluralism and reducing the Assembly to a single-colored body.
Even elected members, they added, remain subject to multiple committees tied to the “Supreme Election Committee,” itself appointed by the president, keeping the electoral process under his direct and indirect influence. Altogether, they said, these arrangements render the elections “cosmetic, stripped of their essence as a democratic mechanism for representation and accountability.”
Vague candidacy criteria
According to the position paper, the decree uses vague language in defining candidacy criteria, excluding anyone deemed a “supporter of the former regime,” “terrorist organization,” or “advocate of secession and foreign backing,” without clear definitions. This, they said, leaves room for arbitrary interpretation by the executive to determine eligibility.
The decree also refers to categories such as “elites” and “notables” without defining them, leaving room for personal or financial influence in filling those seats. While it stipulates a minimum of 20% women’s representation, as well as provisions for displaced persons, persons with disabilities, and former detainees, these are framed as “where possible,” making them nonbinding.
For decades, Syrians have referred to the People’s Assembly as the “clapping parliament” because it merely rubber-stamped executive decisions. This was most evident in 2000, when it amended the constitution within minutes to allow Bashar al-Assad to run for president after his father’s death.
