Syria's president finalizes first post-Assad parliament

DAMASCUS

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has finalized the formation of the country’s first post-Assad parliament, which is set to hold its first session next week in a step seen as a test for the country’s transition.

After toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 after more than 13 years of civil war, the new authorities dissolved Syria’s rubber-stamp legislature and adopted a temporary constitutional declaration to cover a five-year transition period.

In a process that began in October 2025, local committees appointed by the electoral commission, which was in turn appointed by Sharaa, began selecting two-thirds of the 210 members of a new parliament, with the president to appoint the remaining third.

Mohammad Taha al-Ahmad, head of the electoral committee, read out the names of the 70 members appointed by presidential decree, saying they included relatives of civil war “martyrs, and survivors of imprisonment and of chemical attacks”, as well as “academics and dignitaries.”

The aim, he continued, was to “represent the various segments of Syrian society and embody the unity of the nation.”

The parliament’s first session will be held on July 6, he said, adding that the body, which has a renewable two-and-a-half-year mandate, will form a committee to draft a constitution that must “meet the aspirations of Syrian society.”

Sharaa’s appointees include 15 women and 13 people who were imprisoned under the former authorities.
Claudio Cordone, the United Nations deputy special envoy for Syria, said the first parliamentary session next week “marks an important milestone in Syria’s political transition.”