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Assembly moves to pluralism
The Syrian People’s Assembly convened on July 12, 2026, for its first session to reopen one of the most sensitive political issues of the transitional phase: the Political Parties Law.
The article from تيار المستقبل السوري frames the moment as a shift after more than six decades of the Ba’ath Party’s monopoly on political life since 1963 and fifty-four years of Assad family rule that entrenched the party’s fusion with the state.
It says the transition from a one-party system to a pluralistic system is not merely a legislative procedure but a transformation that touches the philosophy of the state, the nature of society, the political culture, and the mechanisms of power production.
It also sets out a constitutional-law definition of a political party as a permanent national organization based on a declared political program, aiming to attain power or participate in decision-making through peaceful and constitutional means.
The same piece describes political parties as a bridge that conveys the demands of society to state institutions and as oversight over the performance of the executive branch.
Internal regulations approved
On Sunday, July 26, the Syrian People’s Assembly approved 16 articles of its draft internal regulations during the continuation of the first extraordinary session of the first legislative term, according to Assembly Speaker Abdul Hamid Al-Awaak.
Al-Awaak said on Monday, July 27 that the internal regulations serve as the procedural instructions for the functioning of the People’s Assembly, with discussion of the remaining articles to continue in later sessions until the draft is fully approved.
The drafting committee for the internal regulations, made up of 17 members, completed preparing the initial draft after four days of meetings during the past week, and the Assembly’s Secretary-General Moayed Habib said voting takes place on each article separately before voting on the entire internal regulations by a majority.
The first session of the People’s Assembly began in Damascus on July 12, with the presence of President Bashar al-Assad, Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani, Justice Minister Mazhar Al-Wais, Interior Minister Anas Khattab, and the head of the Supreme Committee for Elections Mohammad Taha Al-Ahmad.
The council comprises 210 members, and its convening marked the first session of a legislative authority in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, with 206 members attending and three members representing Sweida Governorate absent due to the inability to hold elections there.
Drafting committee prepares vote
As the Assembly moved toward voting, the Syrian People’s Assembly announced that the Internal Regulations Drafting Committee completed the initial draft after legal vetting, in preparation for presenting it to the council and voting on it during the second session scheduled for Sunday.
The ILKHA report says the committee, consisting of 17 members, held four-day meetings last week to draft the initial draft, and it adds that the council held its first session on July 12 in the presence of President Ahmed al-Sharʿ.
It states that Abdul Hamid al-Awaq was elected Speaker of the Council, along with the election of his two deputies and the secretary, and it links the committee’s work to the current legislative term’s second session.
In parallel, Al-Jazeera Net says the Assembly continues today, Monday, to discuss the preliminary draft of the Assembly’s internal regulations for the second day in a row, with members discussing general principles of the Assembly’s work and mechanisms for electing members and the presidential office.
Al-Jazeera Net also reports that Member Nour Abdul Ghani Arbu said the sessions to discuss the internal regulations are among the most important sessions in the current legislative term, while Mustafa Musa clarified that the number of sessions has become 3 sessions and the duration of a session is 10 weeks.
