'Election Could Take Up To Four Years': Syria's De Facto Leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa (X image @wca_ngo)
Damascus, Syria: Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s new de facto leader, says holding elections in the war-ravaged country could take as long as four years. This is the first time al-Sharaa, also known as Muhammed al-Julani, has commented on a possible electoral possibilities since the rebel opposition headed by him took over the country, ousting longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad three weeks ago.
Speaking to Saudi Arabia’s state-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya, al-Sharaa said drafting a new constitution could take three years. He said elections would likely be held after four years because a new census is to be conducted to specify the numbers of eligible voters in the country. “Any meaningful elections will require conducting a comprehensive population census,” he said.
He also added that Syrians would likely witness significant changes in their country in about a year. He said HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the organisation headed by him that ousted Assad), the most dominant military and political power in Syria, would be dissolved at a national dialogue conference.
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The remarks came as the new government in Damascus seeks to reassure its neighbours of peace and stability in the multiethnic country. “Syria will not be a source of disturbance to anyone”, he told Al Arabiya.
The leader also said that Syria shared strategic interests with Russia, reiterating conciliatory signals his government has made previously. This month, he said Syria’s relations with Russia should serve common interests. Moscow has been a close ally and military supporter of al-Assad during the 13-year Syrian war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the status of Russia’s military bases in Syria would be the subject of negotiations with the new leadership in Damascus.
“It is a question not only of maintaining our bases or strongholds but also of the conditions of their operation, maintenance and provision and interaction with the local side,” he said in an interview with the Russian news agency RIA released on Sunday.
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Al-Sharaa also said he hoped the administration of United States President-elect Donald Trump would lift sanctions imposed on Syria. Earlier, senior US diplomats who visited Damascus this month said al-Sharaa came across as pragmatic and Washington had decided to remove a $10m bounty on the HTS leader’s head.
