The World Today
MADRID, 23 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Supreme Commission for Elections of the Syrian People's Assembly has proposed postponing the legislative elections scheduled for September in the regions of Suwayda—following conflicts between Druze and Bedouin militias—and in Rojava, the Syrian Kurdistan region controlled by the Kurdish-Arab militias of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
A spokesperson for the electoral body confirmed that voting will not take place in these two areas in statements to Iraqi Kurdish television station Rudaw, and Syrian television also confirmed this information.
Specifically, Syria TV cites an official Commission document that plans to postpone the elections in Suwayda, Hasaka, and Raqqa—governed by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)—for security reasons. Commission spokesperson Nawar Najma explained to Syria TV that this postponement aims to ensure "fair representation" of these three provinces, and therefore the corresponding seats will be reserved until the vote.
The Commission made the decision to ensure "that appropriate conditions and a secure environment exist" for the electoral process, Najma noted.
The new electoral legislation bans former ministers and governors from the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, making them ineligible to run for parliament. "The provisional electoral system prohibits candidates who advocate division, secession, and seek external support, as well as sympathizers of the former regime," according to the regulations.
The new People's Assembly will have 210 members, two-thirds elected under the new regulations and one-third allocated to the various governorates based on their population. The vote is scheduled for September 15-20.
Relations between the Damascus government and the authorities in northeastern Syria have deteriorated significantly in recent weeks. On August 9, the Syrian government announced that it would not participate in the planned Paris talks with the SDF after denouncing the emergence of a parallel process to its national integration negotiations.
This process was evident at the so-called Al-Hasakah Conference that week, where the SDF participated alongside 400 political and religious figures, tribal leaders from various Syrian regions, and representatives of the AANES. Participants advocated for the creation of a new constitution and a "decentralized" system—a notion diametrically opposed to Damascus's intentions.
This Saturday, one of the Kurdish negotiators, Sanharib Barsoum, accused Damascus of making surreptitious efforts to dissolve all civilian and security institutions of the autonomous administration.
Barsoum, head of the Syrian Union Party, assured Rudaw that the negotiating delegation seeks to inform all sectors of society in northeast Syria about the progress of the talks, referring to the session held in Hasaka with representatives of civil society organizations.
Barsoum noted that what became clear during the previous rounds was that Damascus "wants to dissolve all civilian, security, and military institutions" in the region, while the autonomous administration has a different concept for integration, based on linking institutions with their counterparts in Damascus without dissolving them, stressing that this is a fundamental point and remains a source of dispute.
