Syria: de facto leader Sharaa says holding elections could take up to four years

Holding elections in Syria could take up to four years, Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa has said in remarks broadcast on Sunday, Reuters has reported. This is the first time that he has commented on a possible electoral timetable since Bashar Al-Assad was ousted earlier this month.

Drafting a new constitution could take up to three years, Sharaa told Saudi state-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya. He also said that it would take about a year for Syrians to see drastic changes in their country.

The comment from the leader of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the group that ousted Assad on 8 December, comes as the new government in Damascus has been seeking to reassure its neighbours that it has moved away from its roots in Islamist militancy.

The group’s lightning campaign ended a 13-year civil war, but has left a host of questions about the future of a multi-ethnic country where foreign states, including Turkey and Russia, have strong and potentially competing interests. While Western powers largely welcomed the end of the Assad family’s dictatorship in Syria, it remains unclear whether HTS will impose strict Islamic rule or show flexibility and move towards democracy.

Sharaa said HTS, formerly known as Al-Nusra Front, would be dissolved at a national dialogue conference. When asked about this, he replied: “Of course. A country cannot be run by the mentality of groups and militias.”

HTS was once affiliated with Islamic State and Al-Qaeda but has since renounced both and sought to reposition itself as a force for moderation. It has repeatedly vowed to protect minority groups, who fear that the new rulers could seek to impose an Islamist government and has warned of attempts to incite sectarian strife.

According to Sharaa, the national dialogue conference would include wide participation from across Syrian society with votes on issues such as dissolving the parliament and the constitution.

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On the situation in north-east Syria, Sharaa said that there are talks with all parties to resolve remaining disputes, including with the US-allied Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

“We reject Syria becoming a platform for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to launch attacks against Turkiye,” he insisted. Arms, added the HTS head, should only be under the control of the state, adding that the ministry of defence would welcome those capable of joining the army.

In the interview, Sharaa pointed out that Syria shared strategic interests with Russia, which was a close Assad ally during the long civil war and has military bases in the country. The new Syrian leader reiterated the conciliatory signals that his government has made previously.

He said earlier this month, for example, that Syria’s relations with Russia should serve common interests. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the status of Russia’s military bases would be the subject of negotiations with the new leadership in Damascus.

“It is a question not only of maintaining our bases or strongholds, but also of the conditions of their operation, maintenance and provision, and interaction with the local side,” Lavrov told Russian news agency RIA in an interview published on Sunday.

Sharaa also said that he hoped that the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump will lift the sanctions imposed on Syria. Senior US diplomats who visited Damascus this month noted that Sharaa came across as pragmatic, and that Washington has decided to remove a $10 million bounty on the HTS leader’s head.

“We will not work on exporting the revolution,” said Sharaa. “We want to manage the phase with the mentality of the state and not revolution.” Syria, he added, is keen on establishing strategic relations with all regional states.