🔶 Syria’s new parliament has started work

🔶 Syria’s new parliament has started work

Syria’s new parliament held its first session on Sunday, July 12 (21 Tir), 19 months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government.

During the session, 206 representatives elected Syrian jurist Abdulhamid Awwak as the Speaker of the House. This transitional parliament is expected to draft a new constitution for Syria within two and a half years.

Ahmad al-Sharaa, the interim president of Syria, in a speech in Damascus, the country’s capital, asked the representatives to turn this institution into a “model for accountability and merit.” He also called for institutionalizing a culture of dialogue, the rule of law, and respect for governmental institutions.

This parliament is a test of Sharaa’s promise—under which a new order in Syria is set to take shape that includes all groups in the war-torn country.

Claudio Cordone, Deputy Special Envoy of the United Nations for Syria, described the start of the new council as a turning point in the country’s political transition process, and said the UN will closely follow the parliament’s activities.

During the decades-long rule of the Assad family, Syria was governed by a police state, and the parliament was also regarded merely as an institution to approve the government’s decisions.

However, this council’s powers are currently highly limited. Based on the text of the 2025 provisional constitutional statement, the government does not need to obtain a vote of confidence from parliament. Even so, representatives can submit bills and pass laws.

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