Syria postpones parliamentary polls

Damascus (dpa) — Syria’s upcoming parliamentary elections, the country’s first since the ouster of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad more than eight months ago, will be postponed in three provinces due to security concerns, an electoral commission said on Saturday.

The elections were originally scheduled to take place between September 15-20.

But a spokesman for the higher electoral commission, Hassan al-Daghim, told dpa the vote would be postponed in the southern province of Sweida as well as the provinces of al-Hassakeh and al-Reqqa in north-eastern Syria due to “security challenges” there.

Last month, Sweida, a stronghold of Syria’s minority Druze community, experienced deadly sectarian violence.

Hasakeh and al-Raqqa, meanwhile, are under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces militia locked in tensions with the Damascus government.

Al-Daghim did not give a new date, but said the elections will take place in the three provinces when the circumstances allow.

Earlier this week, Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa ratified a decree pertaining to a temporary electoral system whereby he has the power to appoint one third of the assembly’s 210 members. The remaining two-thirds will be picked by electoral bodies.

Commanding an Islamist-led rebel alliance, al-Sharaa overthrew al-Assad in December. The former president fled the country for Russia.

In January, the new administration dissolved the parliament that had been dominated by al-Assad’s Baath Party.

In March, al-Sharaa approved an interim constitution that established a political transition period of five years.

Since al-Assad’s fall, Syria’s new leadership has sought to garner world recognition and economic support to rebuild the country devastated by more than a decade of civil war.