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Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has said it could take up to four years before the country holds its first elections after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
In his first comments on a possible timeline for key phases of the country’s political transition, Charaa declared that “any valid election will require a complete population census.”
Drafting a new constitution could also take up to three years, Sharaa, who previously used the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, said in an interview Sunday with Saudi television channels al-Arabiya and al-Hadath .
The longer-than-expected transition will worry Western powers who have urged Sharaa to form an inclusive administration. They are considering the lifting of sanctions against the Syrian state and terrorist designations against Sharaa and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist movement that led the rebels’ blitzkrieg to overthrow Assad.
Earlier this month, HTS appointed Mohamed al-Bashir as interim prime minister of Syria,
Bashir, who headed the civil administration of Idlib, the northwest region under HTS control for years, announced at the time that his cabinet, made up largely of HTS members who played a role in the former administration of Idlib, would form an interim government until March next year.
Sharaa also spoke about HTS’s dominant role in the transitional government, telling TV channels that “the current form of appointment was a necessity of the moment” and that a “quota system during this period would have destroyed the transitional work “.
Hadi al-Bahra, head of the Syrian National Coalition – an umbrella group of Assad’s main opponents during the war. The civil war in Syria – called for all opposition parties to be included in the transitional government.
He also presented a 18 month deadline for a political transition, including a six-month period to draft a new constitution.
Sharaa also confirmed that HTS and other armed factions would be dissolved into new state authoritieseven if it is not certain that the many Syrian factions will accept his initiative.
The dissolution of HTS will be announced at a national dialogue conference bringing together opposition figures, ethnic and religious leaders and some Assad regime officials who had no military or security role.
The conference, the date of which has not yet been announced, is also expected to announce the dissolution of the old parliament and the annulment of the old constitution, as well as the formation of an advisory council, organizers told Al Jazeera.
One of the largest factions remaining outside Sharaa’s sphere of influence is the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which control much of the country’s northeast.
Sharaa said on Sunday that the HTS-led administration was negotiating with the SDF over the future status of the region.
