Overview
- On Wednesday, July 1, President Ahmed al-Sharaa named 70 presidential appointees, completing the 210-member People’s Assembly so it can meet for the first time next week to swear in members and elect parliamentary leaders.
- The chamber combines 140 members chosen last year by regional electoral colleges with 70 presidential picks, and it will serve a renewable 30-month term with the mandate to draft an elections law and prepare for a permanent constitution.
- Al-Sharaa’s list included 15 women, raising female representation to roughly 10–11 percent of the chamber, and named figures from minority communities and former opposition and detainee backgrounds.
- Rights groups and opposition figures say the selection system centralises power in the presidency because local electoral committees were appointed by Damascus and one-third of seats are direct presidential picks, and some Kurdish and Druze actors reject selections as unrepresentative.
- The move marks a shift from emergency rule toward formal institutions after Assad’s ouster, but the assembly will operate under a temporary constitution that limits its power and leaves key seats in contested areas, such as Sweida, unresolved for now.