Next Syrian presidential election
A presidential election in Syria is planned to take place within five years of the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Until then, Syria will be governed by a transitional government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Background
In May 2021, Ba'athist Syria under Bashar al-Assad conducted its final presidential election, which he won by a landslide with over 95% of the popular vote. The election was widely dismissed internationally as an illegitimate sham election marked by substantial electoral fraud. Assad ultimately did not complete his term; his government collapsed on 8 December 2024 following renewed Syrian opposition offensives led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham amid the Syrian civil war.Ahmed al-Sharaa subsequently became the country's de facto leader as the head of HTS. On 9 December, HTS released a video featuring al-Sharaa, then–Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-JalalI, and Mohammed al-Bashir, the Prime Minister of the Syrian Salvation Government. On the same day, following the fall of the Assad regime, as the head of the de facto government in Idlib, al-Bashir was tasked with forming a transitional government after meeting with al-Sharaa and outgoing Prime Minister al-Jalali to coordinate the transfer of power. The next day, al-Bashir was officially appointed by the General Command of Syria as the prime minister of the caretaker government.
On 29 January 2025, during the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference, Hassan Abdul Ghani, the spokesman of the rebels' Military Operations Command, announced the appointment of al-Sharaa as the president of Syria. Abdul Ghani stated that al-Sharaa would govern the country during the transitional period, assume the duties of the president, and represent the nation on the international stage.
In March 2025, al-Sharaa ratified a Constitutional Declaration for the transitional period, establishing Syria as a presidential republic without a prime minister, setting a five-year transition period, and announcing the formation of a transitional government.
Date of the election
Shortly after the fall of the Assad regime, Hadi al-Bahra, president of the Syrian National Coalition, said that an 18-month transitional period was needed to establish "a safe, neutral, and quiet environment" for free elections, as outlined in the UNSC Resolution 2254. However, the newly declared president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, stated that elections would need at least four to five years to take place, citing the need to first re-establish the infrastructure for elections by holding a comprehensive population census and drafting a constitution, which he estimated "may take two or three years."In a meeting with al-Sharaa, French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot and German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock urged Syria's new leadership to avoid undue delays in holding elections.
In a September 2025 interview with 60 Minutes, al-Sharaa said elections would be held once Syria's infrastructure and citizens' records are restored. He stated that he wants Syria to be a place where every person can vote.
On 6 December 2025, at the Doha Forum, al-Sharaa told Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s Chief International Anchor, that the national dialogue conference held after the liberation had resulted in a temporary constitutional declaration granting him a five-year mandate to pass new laws and draft a new constitution ahead of elections scheduled in four years.