It will likely take four to five years to hold presidential elections in Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria’s de facto leader and interim president, has said.
“I estimate that the period will be between four to five years until elections because there is a need for a vast infrastructure,” he said in televised remarks on Feb. 3.
“This infrastructure needs to be reestablished, and establishing it needs time.”
Al-Sharaa was named Syria’s transitional president last week. Formerly known as Mohamed al-Golani, al-Sharaa is also the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group.
Late last year, HTS, an ideological offshoot of al-Qaeda, led a Turkey-backed rebel offensive that toppled the long-ruling regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
According to al-Sharaa, Syria’s new HTS-led leadership must collect relevant information about the country’s population before presidential polls can be held.
“Without this matter, any elections held will be doubted,” he said.
Al-Sharaa, 43, said Syria would adhere to international norms pertaining to transitional periods, including how they should apply to the head of state.
Based on these norms, he said, Syria would “ultimately go to an elected presidency and an elected authority.”
Al-Sharaa did not, however, say which international norms he was basing his four-to-five-year electoral timeline on.
Last week, military commanders who took part in December 2024’s rebel offensive met in Damascus, where al-Sharaa was named Syria’s interim president for an unspecified transitional phase.
According to a declaration issued after the Jan. 29 meeting, al-Sharaa “assumed the presidency of the country in the transitional phase” and would “carry out the duties of the presidency … and represent [Syria] in international forums.”
At the meeting, Syria’s parliament—elected last year—was dissolved, the country’s Assad-era constitution was abrogated, and al-Sharaa was empowered to form a temporary legislative council.
Addressing the meeting, the HTS leader said Syria’s first priority was to fill the current government vacuum “in a legitimate and legal way.”
In his televised remarks on Feb. 3, he said that a preparatory committee would soon be drawn up tasked with organizing countrywide consultations.
This preparatory committee, he said, would “invite those we think represent the Syrian people in general.”
According to al-Sharaa, subsequent consultations will tackle “all the important problems in Syria” and produce a final document on which a “constitutional declaration” can eventually be based.
After the Assad regime fell in early December 2024, al-Sharaa had initially said that formulating a new national charter could take up to three years.
Regional Allies
On Jan. 30, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani visited Damascus, where he met with al-Sharaa and other top Syrian officials.It was the first visit by a head of state to the Syrian capital since the fall of the Assad regime almost two months ago.
According to a statement released by Qatar’s royal court, the emir, during talks with al-Sharaa, urged the latter to “form a government that represents all segments of the Syrian people.”
On Feb. 2, in his first trip abroad as interim president, al-Sharaa visited Saudi capital Riyadh, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In a statement released after the visit, al-Sharaa, who was born in Saudi Arabia, said he and bin Salman had discussed humanitarian and economic cooperation.
The two leaders also discussed “future plans in the fields of energy, technology, education, and health,” according to the statement.
On Feb. 4, al-Sharaa is slated to visit Ankara, the primary backer of his rebel offensive, for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
