Oct. 5 (UPI) — Syria is electing Parliament officials Sunday, paving the way toward a more democratic future after more than 50 years of dictatorship.
An electoral committee appointed by current president Ahmed al-Sharaa was in charge of developing regional groups comprised of local council members to facilitate the election process, the New York Times reported.
The votes will determine who makes up two thirds of the People’s Assembly, while al-Sharaa will choose 70 officials himself.
“As a transitional period, there is a difficulty to hold popular elections due to the loss of documents, and half of the population is outside of Syria, also without documents,” he said, per the BBC.
The election comes some 10 months after al-Sharaa unseated the former president, Bashar al-Assad, marking an end to a civil war that spanned 13 years.
In May, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Sharaa to lift previously imposed sanctions that had taken effect while Assad was helming the country.
An interim constitution guiding the five-year transition of government power was signed .
