Given the geographic proximity of Lebanon and Syria, we will start our series by looking into the elections of the Syrian People’s Assembly.

People’s Assembly

Parliament in Syria is known under the name of Syrian People’s Assembly. It consists of 244 members elected by direct vote for a four-year term by any Syrian national above 18 years of age and without a criminal record. The Assembly retains its right to convene if no successor is elected after its term expiry. Should any parliamentary seat fall vacant for whatever reason, a new member could be elected, save that the remaining period until the expiry of the Assembly’s term, is no less than 6 months. Members of the Assembly elect their Speaker and the members of the Assembly’s bureau for a one-year term of office. The Assembly sits in three regular sessions annually and may be called into special session by the President of the Republic, or at the request of one-third of the Assembly’s members.

Electoral Act

The Parliamentary Election Act issued in August 2011 included the following:

• Eligible voters have the right for only one vote each.
• Military and police members are banned from voting or running for elections while still in service.
• A judicial committee consisting of 5 judges designated by the Higher Judicial Council for 4 non-renewable years is in charge of overseeing the elections.
• Each Mohafaza forms an electoral district except for Aleppo, which is split into 2 districts: the City of Aleppo and the Suburbs of Aleppo (The following Table 1 illustrates the number of seats per district).
• Candidates must be at least 25 years old and must have held the Syrian citizenship for no less than 10 years. They must also be literate and running for the district in which they are registered as voters. If an applicant is residing outside Syria, he may appoint a legal agent to submit the candidacy for him.
• After the elections, candidates are grouped each under their profession (workers, farmers, etc). The top candidates with the highest numbers of votes are then considered winners of the seats assigned to each profession. In case of a tie, a draw should determine the winner.
• Any person who collects electoral identity cards or retains or destroys electoral material is sentenced from 3 to 12 months in prison and incurs a fine of SPY 25 000 to SPY 50 000.
• Any attempt to buy votes is punished from 10 days to 3 months in prison and a fine ranging between SPY 10 000 to SPY 25 000.

People Assembly’s Functions

The Syrian constitution has tasked the People’s Assembly with the following:

• Approve legislation
• Discuss ministerial statements
• Debate motions of no confidence in the Council of Ministers as a whole or in an individual minister
• Approve the public budget and the final accounts
• Approve development plans
• Approve treaties and international agreements
• Approve general amnesty
• Accept or decline the resignation of the Assembly’s members
• Call on the Speaker to elect a President of the Republic from the people directly

Should the need arise when the Assembly is in or out of session or should the Assembly be dissolved entirely, the President of the Republic will assume the legislative power, provided that all bills will be presented to the new Assembly when elected to approve or decline them.

Structure of the Syrian People’s Assembly

According to the parliamentary elections that took place in 2012, the structure of the People’s Assembly consists of:

• Class A- Workers and farmers (128 members)
• Class B- Independent candidates (116 members)
• In terms of political affiliation, members of the People’s Assembly are distributed as follows:
• Arab Socialist Baath Party: 133 members
• Independent members: 77
• Socialist Unionist Party: 18 members
• Syrian Communist Party: 8 members
• Arab Socialist Union Party: 2 members
• National Vow Movement: 6 members

NB: According to the law, the farmer is he who works on a farm alone or in participation with others and earns a living from agriculture, while a worker is anyone who works in the private or public sector without having a commercial or industrial register of his own.