2016 Syrian parliamentary election

13 April 2016
All 250 seats in the Parliament of Syria 126 seats needed for a majority
First party   Leader Bashar al-Assad Party Ba'ath Party Alliance NPF Last election 168 Seats won 200 Seat change 32
Speaker before election Mohammad Jihad al-Laham Ba'ath Party Elected Speaker Hadiya Khalaf Abbas Ba'ath Party

Parliamentary elections were held in Syria to elect the People's Council on 13 April 2016,^[1] electing members for the 2016–2020 parliamentary term.

Background

Amidst nearly five years of civil war and ensuing negotiations for a ceasefire, following the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War and Syrian Arab Army gains, President Bashar al-Assad called the election.

At the time of the election, Idlib Governorate was almost entirely outside government control, as it was controlled by rebels. Raqqa Governorate and Deir ez-Zor Governorate were mostly occupied by ISIL. As such, elections did not take place in these provinces. Parts of Aleppo, Homs, and Daraa governorates were also held by anti-government forces at the time of the election. Rojava had also been semi-autonomous since the civil war began.

Electoral system

All 250 members of the People's Council were elected from 15 multi-member constituencies^[2] in general tickets.

Results

The Ba'ath Party-led National Progressive Front won 200 of the 250 seats, while the opposition inside and outside the country boycotted the elections; voter turnout was 57.56%. Two Armenians were elected to the People's Council.^[5]

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
	National Progressive Front		Ba'ath Party			172
			Syrian Social Nationalist Party			7
			Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash)			3
			Socialist Unionist Party			2
			Arab Socialist Union Party			2
			Syrian Communist Party (Faisal)			1
			National Covenant Party			1
			NPF-affiliated independents			12
	Independents					50
Total						250
Total votes				5,085,444	–
Registered voters/turnout				8,834,994	57.56
Source: IPU

Reactions

•  Germany – Martin Schaefer, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry has announced that Germany would not accept the results of the election. He stated that "holding free and fair elections is simply impossible in the current situation, with all the refugees, in a full civil war situation."^[6]
•  United States – John Kirby, spokesman for the United States Department of State has announced that the United States believes the elections to not be credible, fair or free. He cited the departure of many citizens as a result of the Syrian Civil War.^[7]

References