Elections in Syria

A civil war has been going on in Syria since 2011, following the events of the 2011 Syrian Revolution, which was part of the international wave of protest known as the Arab Spring. The government, headed by Bashar al-Assad, son of previous leader Hafez al-Assad, is based in Damascus, the traditional capital. The Ba'athist government conducts Presidential elections and parliamentary elections to the People's Assembly.

The elections in Syria are rigged by the Ba'ath party and unanimously regarded as a sham process by independent, international observers. Electoral Integrity Project's 2022 Global report designates Syrian elections as a "facade" with the worst electoral integrity in the world alongside Comoros and Central African Republic.

Election process
Syria elects on a national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The People's Council (Majlis al-Sha'ab) has 250 members elected for a four-year term in 15 multi-seat constituencies. According to the Syrian constitution of 1973, Syria was a form of one-party state in which only one political party, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was legally allowed to hold effective power. A series of presidential elections organized by the cadres of the Ba'ath Party has been held every seven years since Bashar al-Assad's ascension to Presidency in 2000, which he regularly wins with overwhelming majority of votes. The elections are unanimously regarded by independent observers as a sham process and boycotted by the opposition.

Elections are officially designated as the event of "renewing the pledge of allegiance" to the Assad family and the state enforces voting as a compulsory duty on every citizen. Announcement of the results are followed by Ba'athist rallies conducted across the country extolling the regime, wherein supporters declare their "devotion" to the President and celebrate "the virtues" of Assad dynasty. Although minor parties were allowed, they were legally required to accept the leadership of the dominant party. The presidential candidate was appointed by the parliament, on suggestion of the Baath Party, and needed to be confirmed for a seven-year term in a national single-candidate referendum. The most recent presidential referendum took place in 2021. The last two elections - held in 2014 and 2021 - were conducted only in areas controlled by the Syrian government during the country's ongoing civil war and condemned by the United Nations (UN).

The new Syrian constitution of 2012, approved after a referendum, nominally specified a multi-party system that didn't designate vanguard role to any political party. Nonetheless, Ba'ath party remains the sole arbitror in publicizing electoral lists for candidacy. By theoretically permitting their activities, the government was able to mobilize recruits and militias from anti-opposition political parties at a time when regime's prospects for survival looked bleak in the Syrian civil war. Once Assad regime gained military edge in its favour, the state relinquished the accommodations and effectively restored the one-party state. An intense Ba'athification campaign has since been pursued with ideological vigor; by disbanding non-Ba'athist militias, sideling satellite parties of National Progressive Front and increasing Ba'athist representation in the People's Assembly.

Article 88 of 2012 constitution introduced presidential electoral limits to a maximum of one re-election. During the French Mandate and after the independence, the parliamentary elections in Syria have been held under a system similar to the Lebanese one, with fixed representation for every religious community, including Druzes, Alawis and Christians. In 1949 the system was modified, giving women the right to vote.

Election law
In August 2011, President Assad signed Decree No. 101 on amending the General Elections Law. The Law stipulates that elections are to be held with public, secret, direct and equal voting where each Syrian voter, eighteen years and older, has one vote. The Law does not allow army members and policemen in service to participate in elections. It also provides for forming a higher judicial committee for elections, with its headquarters in Damascus to monitor the elections and ensure its integrity, in addition to forming judicial sub-committees in every Syrian province affiliated with the higher committee.

In March 2015, President Assad signed General Elections Law No.5 which replaced previous election laws. People's Assembly has been increasingly packed with Ba'athist army officers and commanders of Ba'ath Brigades since the 2016 elections, as part of the state policy to instill militarism in the society. Elections are a sham process, characterized by wide-scale rigging, repetitive voting and absence of voter registration and verification systems.