Syria’s parliamentary elections of 13 April have resulted in Assad’s ruling Ba’ath party winning a majority within the People’s Council of Syria. The National Unity coalition that consists of Ba’ath and its allies had put forward 200 candidates and won 200 out of the 250 seats in parliament. The elections were held in government controlled areas throughout the country and included around 8.85 million eligible voters out of the now approximately 18 million strong population of Syria due to the civil war displacements. The opposition groups within the Syrian civil war are boycotting the elections and Western countries and the United Nations (UN) have said they do not recognize the election results, claiming that the prevailing militancy across the country does not allow fair elections.

Assad’s ruling Ba’ath party has ruled Syria since the 1963 Ba'athist coup. The current election were the second parliamentary ballot since the start of the war in 2011 but is however boycotted by the United Nations. In the earlier presidential election in June 2014, President Assad was sworn in for his third seven-year term since he took over from his father in 2000. As the Syrian civil war is currently revolved in a cessation of hostilities, there are peacetalks in Geneva where multiple parties are aiming towards a political transition, a new constitution and renewed presidential and parliamentary election for September 2017.

While there is very little media coverage on these elections from Western media (presumably due to the non-recognition of the elections), other news agencies have made reports or analyses about the results.

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For more substantial information on the election from PressTV, the Iranian state news agency, click here.
For an extensive analysis of the parliamentary elections by alternative foreign policy thinktank SouthFront, click here.