During
Ba'athist Syria, the government, led mainly by
Hafez al-Assad and later his son
Bashar al-Assad, routinely conducted elections to the
presidency and
legislature. However, independent observers unanimously regarded this to be a
sham process. According to
Electoral Integrity Project's 2022 Global report, elections in Ba'athist Syria were considered a "facade", and the country has one of the worst
electoral integrity in the world alongside
Comoros and
Central African Republic. The
Syrian opposition boycotted elections that the Ba'athist government conducted during the
Syrian civil war.
1973 Constitution According to the
Syrian constitution of 1973, Syria was a form of
one-party state where only the
Syrian Ba'ath Party was legally allowed to hold effective power. The presidential candidate was appointed by the parliament, on suggestion of the Baath Party, and needed to be confirmed for a seven-year term in a national single-candidate referendum. Elections are officially designated as the event of "renewing the pledge of allegiance" to the
Assad family and the state enforces voting as a compulsory duty on every citizen. Announcement of the results are followed by
Ba'athist rallies conducted across the country extolling the regime, wherein supporters declare their "devotion" to the President and celebrate "the virtues" of Assad dynasty. Although minor
parties were allowed, they were legally required to accept the leadership of the dominant party. A series of presidential elections organized by the cadres of the Ba'ath Party has been held every seven years since
Bashar al-Assad's ascension to Presidency in 2000, which he regularly wins with overwhelming majority of votes. In August 2011, President Assad signed Decree No. 101 on amending the General Elections Law. The Law stipulates that elections are to be held with public, secret, direct and equal voting where each Syrian voter, eighteen years and older, has one vote. The Law does not allow army members and policemen in service to participate in elections. It also provides for forming a higher judicial committee for elections, with its headquarters in
Damascus to monitor the elections and ensure its integrity, in addition to forming judicial sub-committees in every Syrian province affiliated with the higher committee.
2012 Constitution Soon after the outbreak of the
Syrian civil war, the Syrian government approved the
2012 Syrian constitution after
a constitutional referendum. Article 88 introduced presidential electoral limits to a maximum of one re-election. Nonetheless, Ba'ath party remained the sole arbiter in publicizing electoral lists for candidacy. By theoretically permitting non-Ba'athist activities, the government was able to mobilize recruits and militias from anti-opposition political parties at a time when regime's prospects for survival looked bleak in the
Syrian civil war. Once the
Assad regime gained military edge in its favour, the state relinquished the accommodations and effectively restored the
one-party state. In March 2015, President Assad signed General Elections Law No.5, which replaced previous election laws. The government then pursued an intense Baathification campaign with ideological vigor, such as packing the legislature with
Ba'athist army officers and commanders of
Ba'ath Brigades since the
2016 parliamentary elections. The government also disbanded non-Ba'athist militias and sidelined satellite parties of the
National Progressive Front by increasing Ba'athist representation in the legislature. As such, the United Nations continued to condemn Syrian elections, including its presidential elections in 2014 and 2021. These elections were only held in government-controlled territories due to the ongoing Syrian civil war. Overall, elections continued to be
sham process, characterized by wide-scale
rigging, repetitive voting and absence of
voter registration and verification systems. ==Transitional government==