parliamentary

Election marks landmark moment in country’s post-war transition, but vote is postponed in Druze and Kurdish areas.

Syria has published the results of its first parliamentary election since the government of former President Bashar al-Assad was toppled, revealing that most new members of the revamped People’s Assembly are Sunni Muslim and male.

Electoral commission spokesperson Nawar Najmeh told a press conference on Monday that only four percent of the 119 members selected in the indirect vote were women and only two Christians were among the winners, sparking concerns about inclusivity and fairness.

The election represents a landmark moment in the country’s fragile transition after nearly 14 years of war, but critics say it favours well-connected figures and is likely to keep power concentrated in the hands of Syria’s new rulers, rather than paving the way for genuine democratic change.

News agency AFP cited Najmeh as saying that the number of women in the parliament was “not proportionate to the status of women in Syrian society and their role in political, economic and social life”.

He called the representation of Christians “weak, considering the proportion of Christians in Syria”.

The authorities resorted to an indirect voting system rather than universal suffrage, alluding to a lack of reliable population data following the war, which killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and displaced millions.

Sunni Muslims make up an estimated 75 percent of Syrians. The former al-Assad regime, which was overthrown in December after a nearly 14-year civil war, was largely headed by Syrians from the Alawite minority.

Sunday’s vote saw around 6,000 members of regional electoral colleges choose candidates from preapproved lists, part of a process to produce nearly two-thirds of the new 210-seat body. President Ahmed al-Sharaa will later select the remaining third.

Citing security and political reasons, authorities postponed the vote in areas outside government control, including Kurdish-held parts of Syria’s north and northeast, as well as the province of Suwayda, held by the Druze minority. Those suspensions left 21 seats empty.

Najmeh was cited by news agency AFP as saying the state was “serious” about having “supplementary ballots” to fill the assembly’s seats.

Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid said: “If you ask the Druze in the south or the Kurds in the north, they say [the elections] were not representative.

“If you ask people in major cities, like Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, and other parts of the country, they’re hopeful that this is the first taste of a real election.”

On March 10, Syria’s Kurds and Damascus agreed to integrate Kurdish-administered civil and military institutions in the country’s northeast into the state by the year’s end, but negotiations on implementing the deal have stalled.

Delays in implementing the March 10 agreement meant there were no timetables as yet for ballots in Raqqa and Hasakeh, according to Najmeh.

Najmeh said that the president’s choice would perhaps “compensate” for some underrepresented components of Syrian society, but he rejected the idea of a quota-based system.

Political and rights activist Nour al-Jandali, who was selected for a seat in central Syria’s city of Homs, was quoted by AFP as saying the new lawmakers “have a great responsibility”.

She noted challenges the new legislature faces, including “how we re-establish a state built on freedom, citizenship and justice”, adding that “women must have a real and active role” in drafting public policy.

Published on
03/09/2025 – 8:00 GMT+2

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MEPs are set to complain widely about the EU-US trade agreement when they confront Commission trade chief and agreement negotiator Sabine Weyand during a Parliamentary hearing on the deal on Wednesday.  

“While clearly we understand that the EU has chosen stability, diplomacy and to keep a cool-minded approach, however this cannot translate into the acceptance of an unfair and asymmetric trade relation with our American friends and partners,” Italian MEP Brando Benifei.

“As it is now, it is not acceptable,” Benifei told Euronews, speaking on behalf of his Socialists & Democrats group.

Last week the Commission proposed reducing tariffs on most US industrial goods, as well as less sensitive agricultural products, to 0%, as it began implementing the agreement reached with the US at the end of August. At the same time, the agreement provides that the EU will pay a 15% tariff on its exports to the US.

The Commission’s legislative proposal must now navigate its way through the Parliament and the EU Council for approval.

The Greens are also speaking out against an unbalanced agreement and rejecting the Commission’s argument that it will ensure stable trade relations with the US.

“The deal has major disadvantages for the EU,” German Green MEP Anna Cavazzini said, adding: “The only ‘gain’ that the Commission is selling us is stability. However, Trump’s incessant demands and new tariff threats are turning this process into a waste of time.”

Just after the agreement was concluded, US President Donald Trump threatened countries with digital legislation — like the EU — with tariffs, accusing them of directly targeting Big Tech.

According to the German MEP, the proposal to reduce EU tariffs on US imports will clearly “not have a smooth sailing through the European Parliament.”

The agreement, which is still under discussion within the Parliament’s largest group, the centre-right EPP, has nonetheless failed to win the full support of some of its individual members within the parliamentary committee on trade.

“Capitulation”

“This is an outright capitulation — we’re committing to colossal sums for investments and pledges to purchase billions worth of chips and military equipment, while granting the US 0% tariffs,” French MEP Celine Imart (EPP) said, “all this for the reindustrialisation of the US !”

Swedish MEP Jörgen Warborn, who coordinates the work of the EPP within the trade committee, is more cautious.

“It is hard to put yourself in the situation of the negotiators of the Commission,” he told Euronews, adding: “It is good that we have a framework agreement, because hopefully this can give us more stability. But at the same time, I don’t see the deal as balanced as I would have hoped it to be.”

Within Renew, the liberal group at the Parliament, some MEPs are also angry. The treatment granted to US agricultural products — benefiting from 0% tariffs or favourable quotas for certain items — is not going down well.

“I’m outraged by the whole situation. Yes, of course, there are the US’s promises when it comes to defence, but this agreement truly exposes our total dependence, which forces us to sign just about anything,” Belgian MEP Benoit Cassart (Renew), who is also a farmer, said, adding: “I disagree with those who think the EU has ‘won’ just because things didn’t turn out worse. If that’s the logic, then next time the US will start at 50% and we’ll end up with 40% tariffs on all our exports.”

French MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, who coordinates Renew in the committee, considers too that “there is a widespread feeling that we [the EU] failed to put any real leverage on the table.”

Vote will take place September 15-20 in the first election since President al-Sharaa took power.

Syria will hold parliamentary elections in September, said the head of a body tasked with organising the election process.

Mohammed Taha al-Ahmad, chairman of the Higher Committee for People’s Assembly Elections, told state news agency SANA on Sunday that elections will take place between September 15 and 20.

They will be the first to take place under the country’s new authorities after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December.

One-third of the 210 seats will be appointed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, with the rest to be elected.

In a recent interview with the Erem News site, another member of the elections committee, Hassan al-Daghim, said an electoral college will be set up in each of Syria’s provinces to vote for the elected seats.

Increasingly divided

A temporary constitution signed by al-Sharaa in March called for a People’s Committee to be set up to serve as an interim parliament until a permanent constitution is adopted and general elections held, a process that could take years.

The announcement of impending elections comes at a time when the country is increasingly divided in its views of the new authorities in Damascus after sectarian violence broke out in the southern province of Suwayda earlier this month.

The fighting killed hundreds of people and threatened to unravel Syria’s fragile postwar transition.

The violent clashes, which broke out two weeks ago, were sparked by tit-for-tat kidnappings between armed Bedouin clans and fighters from the Druze religious minority.

Syrian government forces intervened, ostensibly to end the fighting, but effectively sided with the clans.

Some government troops reportedly executed Druze civilians and burned and looted houses.

Israel intervened, launching air strikes on government forces and on the Defence Ministry headquarters. Israel said it was acting to defend the Druze minority.

Boston Consulting Group questioned over involvement in establishing the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

A parliamentary committee in the United Kingdom is demanding that a US consulting giant explain its activities in Gaza, including its role in establishing a controversial aid group under scrutiny over the killings of hundreds of Palestinians.

Labour Party MP Liam Byrne, who chairs the House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee, asked Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in a letter on Wednesday for “clarification and information” about its work in the besieged enclave, adding that the query was part of the committee’s “scrutiny of the UK’s commercial, political and humanitarian links to the conflict”.

Byrne’s letter to BCG CEO Christoph Schweizer comes after The Financial Times reported on Friday that the firm had drawn up an estimate of the costs of relocating Palestinians from Gaza and signed a multimillion-dollar contract to help create the Israel- and US-backed GHF.

Gaza health authorities say that more than 700 Palestinians have been killed trying to access aid at distribution centres run by the GHF, which has been disavowed by the United Nations and numerous aid organisations.

The UK newspaper also reported on Monday that the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), run by the former British prime minister, participated in message groups and calls for a post-war development plan for Gaza that relied on BCG modelling.

In his letter, Byrne asked for a “clear and comprehensive response” to a list of questions, including a “detailed timeline” of when BCG began work on establishing the GHF.

Byrne also demanded information from BCG about other companies and institutions, as well as funding sources, linked to the creation of the group.

The GHF, which began operating in the bombarded Palestinian enclave in late May, has drawn widespread criticism amid numerous reports that its US security contractors and Israeli forces have opened fire on aid seekers.

While noting that BCG had ended its involvement with the GHF, and that some of the associated work had been “unauthorised”, Byrne said the firm should provide specific details on what activities were not authorised, “when and how” the work was undertaken, and what actions were made to correct those activities.

Byrne also called for more information about BCG’s work on proposals to relocate the population of Gaza, which have been condemned by Palestinians in the enclave, rights groups and the UN.

“Who commissioned or requested this work? Which individuals or entities . . . did BCG engage with in this context? Is any such work ongoing or active in any form? Were any UK-based organisations – including companies, NGOs, academics or think-tanks – involved?” Byrne said in the letter.

Byrne directed BCG to respond by July 22, “given the seriousness of these issues and the high level of public interest”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also floated the idea of relocating Palestinians during his meetings this week with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

In a statement issued earlier this week, BCG said that “recent media reporting has misrepresented” the firm’s potential role in the post-war reconstruction of Gaza.

The firm said that two of its partners “failed to disclose the full nature of the work” they carried out without payment in helping to establish the GHF.

“These individuals then carried out subsequent unauthorised work. Their actions reflected a serious failure of judgment and adherence to our standards,” the company said, adding that the two partners had been fired.

Three Maori Party MPs were suspended from New Zealand’s Parliament for performing a haka in protest of a bill backed by a far-right coalition partner that they say was an attack on Indigenous people. The bill was defeated, but tensions remain high.

A near-complete ballot count shows the Socialist Party won 52 percent of the votes or 82 of 140 parliamentary seats.

Albania’s ruling Socialist Party has won the country’s parliamentary elections, according to a near-complete vote count, securing Prime Minister Edi Rama an unprecedented fourth term in office.

With about 96 percent of ballots counted, the official results on Tuesday showed the Socialist Party got 82 seats in the 140-seat parliament with 52 percent of the votes.

The opposition centre-right Democratic Party secured 51 seats with 34 percent of votes. Three other small parties will take the rest of the seats.

The threshold for entry into the assembly in Albania is one percent for parties and five percent for party alliances.

The full results are expected later on Tuesday. If confirmed, the results would be an increase from the last election, where Rama’s party won 49 percent of the vote, and would give him a majority to form a government.

Delay possible

The Central Election Commission, the electoral executive, has said that by law, the final results come out 48 hours after the vote ends.

The results may be delayed following a request of the opposition not to consider about 53,000 ballots mailed from the diaspora in neighbouring Greece, claiming they are manipulated.

For the first time, those in the diaspora could cast postal votes. About 195,000 mailed in their votes.

Eligible voters in Albania and abroad voted to elect 140 lawmakers for a four-year mandate in the Balkan nation. Because of mass emigration, the country of 2.4 million people has a total of nearly 3.7 million eligible voters.

Diaspora votes from Greece may move a number of seats in three or four areas in favour of the ruling party. The opposition claims they were manipulated by Socialist supporters. The postal company said it has confirmation signatures of all the voters in Greece.

Rama, who has been in power since 2013, focused his campaign on working to gain membership in the European Union by 2030. Sali Berisha, the candidate of the conservative Democratic Party, argued that Albania still is not ready for the bloc’s membership.

Some analysts were surprised by the strength of Rama’s success, expecting that a series of corruption scandals and the recent unrest in the country due to a crackdown on the opposition would affect his results.

A joint international observation mission noted that despite being competitive and professionally managed, the election process so far was marked by the ruling party’s misuse of public resources, a confrontational and polarising tone, the two main political parties using divisive language, non-transparent financing, and unbalanced media coverage of smaller parties.