Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. (Credit: AFP)
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa finalised on Wednesday the formation of the country's first parliament in the post-Assad era, which authorities said will hold its first session next week.
Of the 70 MPs appointed, 15 are women and 13 were previously held in prison under toppled president Bashar al-Assad.
The parliament other members, two-thirds of the total, were selected by electoral committees.
Sharaa's Islamist forces led a coalition that toppled Assad in late 2024 after more than 13 years of civil war.
After taking power, the new authorities dissolved Syria's rubber-stamp parliament and adopted a temporary constitutional declaration to govern a five-year transition period.
The declaration stated that the parliament, whose mandate is two and a half years, would exercise parliament powers until a permanent constitution was adopted and new elections were held.
The parliament will hold its first session on July 6, according to Mohammad Taha al-Ahmad, head of the higher electoral committee.
In a process that began in October 2025, local committees appointed by the electoral commission, which was appointed by Sharaa, selected most of the 210-member parliament.
Rights groups have criticised the selection process, saying it concentrates power in Sharaa's hands and lacks representation for the country's ethnic and religious minorities.
The electoral commission had announced in October the names of 119 members of the new parliament, out of the 140 due to be chosen under this process.
At that time, seats remained vacant for parts of then Kurdish-held Raqa and Hasakeh provinces in the north and northeast, and Druze-majority Sweida province in the south, due to "security" reasons.
The Kurdish areas designated their representatives in May, following the conclusion of an agreement on integrating the areas into the central authorities.
Sweida has still not designated its members, but Sharaa has appointed two people from this Druze-majority region, which in July last year saw sectarian bloodshed.
