13 April 2016 2020 → | Start date April 13, 2016 | |
 | ||
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.
Contents
Background
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.
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.