Kurdish parties accuse Damascus of “exclusion” from parliamentary representation

The statement was announced outside the building of the “Department of Foreign Relations in the Autonomous Administration” in the city of Qamishli, in the presence of leaders and officials from the participating parties.

Criticism of the mechanism and demands for greater representation

The statement said the Syrian government “ignored” demands to build a state based on citizenship and genuine partnership, considering the Syrian People’s Assembly elections nothing more than an “appointment process” that reproduces policies of national and political exclusion against Kurds.

The parties said the government appointed a representative for Ras al-Ain (Hasakah, northeastern Syria) from among the “al-Ghamr Arabs,” considering this an extension of demographic change projects, alongside the inclusion of names from outside Hasakah governorate in the electoral body.

The statement added that allocating only four seats to Kurds “represents a blatant circumvention of demographic and political realities,” noting that Kurds make up “no less than 20% of Syria’s total population,” according to the text of the statement.

The Kurdish parties rejected “in full and in detail” the current mechanism for distributing seats and demanded parliamentary representation of “no fewer than 40 seats” for Kurdish representatives from what they called “Rojavayê Kurdistan,” in proportion to “the realistic population share of the Kurdish community,” according to the statement.

The signatory forces warned that accepting the entrenchment of the four seats “would set an extremely dangerous historical precedent,” considering that it would later affect the Kurdish share in state institutions, sovereign posts, ministerial portfolios, and judicial and diplomatic institutions.

The statement affirmed that the seats granted “do not express the free Kurdish will,” describing them as “appointments,” and adding that “no Kurdish party has a popular mandate to accept this.”

The parties said in their statement that the continuation of these policies “will only deepen the Syrian crisis, undermine efforts for stability, and fragment the social fabric,” stressing their commitment to “continuing peaceful and popular struggle” in cooperation with Syrian democratic forces to “impose a genuine national partnership and a modern constitution that recognizes the legitimate national rights of the Kurdish people and all Syrian components.”

Preliminary lists of electoral body members

The Higher Committee for People’s Assembly Elections issued, on Monday, May 18, preliminary lists of members of the electoral bodies in electoral districts in Hasakah governorate, in addition to the Ain al-Arab(Kobani) district in eastern rural Aleppo, as part of procedures to complete the electoral process for the People’s Assembly under the temporary electoral system adopted in Syria.

According to the figures included in the announcement, the number of members of the electoral body in the Hasakah district reached 172, while the number reached 104 in al-Malikiyah and 251 in Qamishli, and the Ain al-Arab (Kobani) district included 128 members.

Higher Committee: Elections are far from quotas

In a related context, Nawar Najmeh, spokesperson for the Higher Committee for People’s Assembly Elections, said the electoral process is “far from the principle of quotas,” considering that fair representation of all components of the Syrian people will be guaranteed at the level of competencies.

Najmeh added, in a statement to the Syrian Arab News Agency, SANA, on Sunday, May 17, that the political quota system “has its positives, but it carries negatives related to national integration and strengthening a sense of belonging,” noting that the electoral bodies “represent a fair mirror of Syria’s social fabric and existing competencies.”

He explained that the Higher Committee’s role in influencing the level of representation within the People’s Assembly “ends at the stage of forming the electoral bodies,” adding that “fair and transparent ballot boxes are what decide the final results of the electoral process.”

Delayed Elections After a Shift in Control

The current electoral process is a continuation of the temporary electoral system mechanisms and the mechanism for forming electoral bodies that were followed in the rest of the governorates, amid anticipation of the approval of final lists and the move toward the next stage of parliamentary elections.

Elections in northeastern Syria had been delayed compared with the rest of the Syrian governorates as a result of the former control of the Syrian Democratic Forces over Hasakah and Raqqa governorates, the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor governorate, and parts of eastern rural Aleppo, most notably the Ain al-Arab (Kobani) district.

This control changed in mid-January, after the Syrian army advanced in the area following battles in the Sheikh Maqsoud and al-Ashrafiya neighborhoods in Aleppo between the army and the SDF, and the extension of fighting toward eastern rural Aleppo and into the eastern and southern countryside of Hasakah, while the SDF retreated to the cities of the governorate and the Ain al-Arab district.

The two sides later signed an agreement to integrate the region’s institutions into the structures of Syrian ministries, a process that began in February and still faces obstacles in some areas

[Source: Enab Baladi English]