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Syrian parliamentary election, 2016

13 April 2016
All 250 seats to the Parliament of Syria 126 seats are 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

2012 Election results:
  National Progressive Front
  Popular Front for Change and Liberation
  Non-partisans

Parliamentary elections were held in Syria to elect the People's Council on 13 April 2016. Syria's parliamentary elections occur every four years, with the last in 2012, while presidential elections are done every seven years, wither the last in 2014. The current parliamentary term ends in 2020, which is consequently the planned date for the next parliamentary election.

Background

Further information: Syrian Civil War

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 for the most part out of government control, so was Raqqa Governorate, mostly occupied by ISIL as their de facto capital, while Deir ez-Zor Governorate was partly occupied by ISIS. Parts of Aleppo, Homs or the Daraa Governorate 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.

Constituency	Seats	Population (est. 2011)
Damascus Governorate	29	1,754,000
Rif Dimashq Governorate	19	2,836,000
Aleppo (city)	20	2,132,100
Aleppo Governorate	32	2,735,900
Homs Governorate	23	1,803,000
Hama Governorate	22	1,628,000
Latakia Governorate	17	1,008,000
Idlib Governorate	18	1,501,000
Tartus Governorate	13	797,000
Raqqa Governorate	8	944,000
Deir ez-Zor Governorate	14	1,239,000
Al-Hasakah Governorate	14	1,512,000
Daraa Governorate	10	1,027,000
As-Suwayda Governorate	6	370,000
Quneitra Governorate	5	90,000
Total	250	21,377,000

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, with a female Armenian candidate elected for the first time.

Summary of the 13 April 2016 People's Council of Syria election results

Parties	Votes	%	Seats	Seats inside
National Progressive Front (al-jabha al-waTaniyyah at-taqaddumiyyah)			200
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Hizb al-ba'th al-'arabi al-ishtiraki)				172
Syrian Social Nationalist Party (al-Hizb as-suri al-qawmi al-ijtima'i)				7
Socialist Unionists (al-wahdawiyyun al-ishtirakiyyun)				2
Communist Party of Syria (al-Hizb ash-shuyu'i as-suri, Wissal Farha Bakdash faction)				3
Communist Party of Syria (Yusuf Faisal faction)				1
National Vow Movement (Harakat al-'ahd al-waTani)				1
Arab Socialist Union (al-ittiHad al-ishtiraki al-'arabi)				2
Others			62
Total			250
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."
• 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.

References

Category:2016 in the Syrian Civil War 2016 Category:2016 elections in Asia Category:2016 in Syria 2016