Speaker of the People's Council of Syria

The Speaker of the People's Council of Syria represents the People's Council, Syria's legislature, signs documents and speaks on its behalf. Throughout its history, the Speaker has been responsible for representing the Council. As of 2016, 29 different people have served as speakers. Since 6 June 2016, Hadiya Khalaf Abbas has been Speaker.

A People's Council is elected every fourth calendar year. The first meeting of a newly elected People's Council is responsible for electing it's Speaker. The People's Council should meet at least three times a year, the Speaker has the power to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Council. The guards of the People's Council are under the authority of the Speaker. 60 days before the term of the President expires, the Speaker calls for new elections. All presidential candidates have to be approved personally by the Speaker. If only one candidate is acceptable, the Speaker is supposed to postpone the elections, but in practice this does not occur. Both President Hafez al-Assad and President Bashar al-Assad ran unopposed during their electoral campaigns. The election result is to be announced when the results have been counted.