The Syrian Regime’s 2024 Parliamentary Elections Are Illegitimate and Predetermined by the Regime’s Security Apparatus

The People’s Assembly of Syria is Nothing More than Another Instrument of Oppression and Control Used to Crush Syrians’ Rights

The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) today, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, released its latest report, ‘The Syrian Regime’s 2024 Parliamentary Elections Are Illegitimate and Predetermined by the Regime’s Security Apparatus – The People’s Assembly of Syria is Nothing More than Another Instrument of Oppression and Control Used to Crush Syrians’ Rights’. In the report, the group stresses that the 2024 elections for the People’s Assembly of Syria are invalid, illegitimate, and lack any credibility, and that they violate international resolutions and international human rights law. SNHR further asserts that these elections are also based on an invalid constitution and electoral law blighted by contradictions, loopholes, and transgressions.

The 21- page report notes that the elections for this term of the People’s Assembly of Syria, like their predecessors, are the furthest possible thing from free and fair in nature. These electoral processes and their outcomes have never represented the will of the Syrian people and Syrian society. Rather, they are charades imposed through the brute force and authority of the regime’s security apparatus. They are nothing but a nominal staged ‘procedure’ devoid of any actual political substance. It should also be noted that the geographical area covered by this latest election was limited to only two-thirds of Syrian territory, with as many international actors present in the country as it has seen to date, and with the election held in the midst of a devastating economic crisis, as the value of the Syrian Pound continues its sharp decline, while rates of inflation, unemployment, and poverty continue to surge. In addition to these points, SNHR points out that over half the Syrian population is currently displaced, either as internally displaced persons (IDPs) or as refugees, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), while the regime continues to commit numerous egregious violations.

As the report further reveals, the Syrian regime has placed special emphasis on this particular legislative term for a number of reasons, the most prominent of which is to continue its intrusion into the constitution and to issue legislative articles that solely serve the regime’s interests; continue to provide cover for the regime’s crimes, perpetuate the illusion of political reform, and rehabilitate pro-regime figures.

The report identifies a number of individuals in this Assembly who have been responsible for violations against the Syrian people, as documented by SNHR’s database. These figures include retired military officers, militia commanders, and war profiteers who have been named on international sanction lists. Some members were also re-elected even after their impunity had been lifted and they had been prosecuted over corruption charges.

The report also stresses that SNHR believes that, for the regime, the most crucial task to be asked of this Assembly is to vote in favor of a constitutional amendment that would allow the head of the Syrian regime to nominate himself for a new presidential term, after the current one ends in mid-2028, in light of the current constitutional limitations on the number of presidential terms a president can serve, as stipulated in Article 88 of the 2012 Constitution. Under the current regulations, a president cannot nominate themselves for three consecutive terms, with the current term set to end in mid-2028. This objective is in addition to the conventional roles played by the People’s Assembly of Syria in rubber-stamping the decisions of the executive authority and the security apparatus, effectively providing a civilian façade to cover up the regime’s crimes and lend the appearance of legitimacy to its absolute hegemony over the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

As Fadel Abdulghany, SNHR Executive Director, says:

 “The Syrian regime is weaponizing the state’s institutions against the Syrian people, even as it increases, furthers and perpetuates its tyranny. Chief among these institutions is the People’s Assembly of Syria which is engaged in devising and promulgating laws and legislative articles that contradict peremptory norms and violate fundamental human rights. The elections for the People’s Assembly of Syria are conducted in an environment ruled by despotism, wherein the Syrian people cannot choose freely. The members of the Assembly are effectively selected by the security apparatus. These are unlawful elections that only reflect and represent the will of the Syrian regime.”

The report identifies the six main reasons that render Syria’s fourth parliamentary elections invalid & illegitimate:

1. These elections were held in overt defiance of international resolutions, and disregarding the political process, particularly the Geneva I Communiqué, which was included in UN Security Council resolutions 2118 and 2254; 2. These elections were held in a corrupt and illegitimate environment, and were based on the illegitimate 2012 Constiutoin and Law No. 5 of 2014 on Regulating General Elections which is riddled with articles that contravene human rights and contradict the principle of equality among all citizens, as well as the principle of separation of authorities; 3. There’s a complete lack of any real judicial safeguards in any elections held by the regime due to the High Elections Committee and the Supreme Constitutional Court of Syria having no autonomy; 4. Regime tampering with voter numbers and the issue of the electoral record with the lack of accurate population statistical figures; 5. Disparity in the distribution of seats, which is based on the discretion of the President of the Republic and; 6. The Baath Party’s complete domination over the elections and the fact that it has absorbed most of the seats.

In all, the Baath-sponsored National Unity electoral list won 185 seats, or 74 percent of the People’s Assembly, with 169 seats going directly to the Baath Party itself, accounting for 67.7 percent of the total, a two-seat increase from the 2020 election. Meanwhile, the bloc allied with the Baath Party won 16 seats, accounting for 8.64 percent, the same number of seats they had in previous terms. Outside the National Unity list, independents won only 65 seats. Needless to say, the Baath Party has full hegemony over the People’s Assembly with a two-thirds majority.

The report concludes that holding these elections indicates that the Syrian regime continues to operate through utilizing security and military criteria in managing Syria’s affairs. It treats internal and external stakeholders as if it had been victorious in the war and were not obliged to make substantial changes to its behavior and approach. Moreover, the Syrian regime’s insistence on conducting these elections reflects its refusal to make any changes or concessions, even if these are only symbolic, either domestically within Syria itself or within the international community. Holding free and fair elections requires comprehensive legal and political reforms that achieve political transition and remove legislation which entrenches tyranny and human rights violations. Additionally, the regime security apparatuses’ dominance, their complete impunity, and the regime’s control over the judicial and legislative branches, along with the lack of freedom of opinion, leave no room for establishing genuine opposition parties. Instead, parties which effectively exist only in name have been created, with the Baath Party remaining, in reality, the sole party for decades. The so-called ‘National Progressive Front’ consists of a supposed alliance of these nebulous parties, with the Baath Party as its backbone. The security apparatuses impose candidate lists consisting of regime loyalists, most of them affiliated with the Baath Party, as a form of compensation for its most devoted supporters.

The report calls on the UN and the international community to reject these elections and to declare them illegitimate since they violate UN Security Council resolutions. Furthermore, the report calls for placing members of the Syrian People’s Assembly of Syria on EU, US, Canadian, and global sanction lists for passing laws and decrees that violate fundamental human rights principles.

The report also calls on the UN Security Council to take serious steps to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, and for achieving a political transition that ensures free and democratic presidential, parliamentary, and local elections.

Moreover, the report calls on the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (COI) to raise the subject of the egregious human rights violations seen in these elections, in addition to making other recommendations.