Syria’s de facto new leader has said it could take up to four years to hold elections, offering the first potential timetable for a transition of power following the overthrow of the country’s longtime ruler, President Bashar al-Assad.
Ahmed al-Shara, who has been setting up an administration in Damascus after leading the rebel offensive that toppled Mr. al-Assad, told the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news channel that it will take time to set the conditions for a vote after decades of dictatorship.
A new constitution must be drafted first, he said, which “may take two or three years.”
“It should not be fast food,” he told the broadcaster, in an interview that aired on Sunday. “It should be drafted with great care.”
Beyond reiterating that committees would be formed and specialized experts would be consulted, Mr. al-Shara did not offer much clarity on what the electoral process would look like. He noted though that “valid elections will require a comprehensive population census,” which also “requires time.”
Since toppling the Assad government on Dec. 8, the rebels led by Mr. al-Shara have been working to assert authority from Damascus and build a system of governance. His new administration appointed a caretaker prime minister to lead a transitional government until March 2025, and promised that a legal committee would draft a new constitution, without going into detail on how that would happen or what it might look like.
Mr. al-Shara has lately ditched his military dress in favor of business suits and dropped his nom de guerre, in an apparent attempt to present himself more as a statesman than a rebel leader with past ties to Islamist extremists.
He also has expressed relatively moderate political positions and sought to reassure Syria’s many minorities. But some officials and analysts have questioned whether the approach represents posturing aimed at having his rebel group removed from the U.S. government’s list of terror organizations and reassuring foreign powers who distrust his group’s intentions.
The Biden administration has said it is watching the new Syrian government for signs that it is including minority groups in charting the country’s future governance, that it is not harboring terrorists and that it is facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid.
In the interview with Al Arabiya, Mr. al-Shara reiterated that his administration was primarily focused on remedying the “demolition and destruction” wrought by decades of Assad rule, to build a state befitting the “aspirations of the Syrian people.”
“The opportunity that we have today does not come every five or 10 years,” he said. “This is a historical turning point.”
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