Syria to select members of first post-Assad parliament in indirect vote

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00:00For five decades, Syria's People's Assembly was completely dominated by the Assad regime Ba'ath party.

00:09Since Bashar al-Assad was toppled, the parliament has been empty, dissolved, like the constitution, by the new Islamist-led authorities.

00:18Now the goal is to rebuild.

00:20Parliament will have 210 seats.

00:24MPs won't be elected by a popular vote.

00:27Instead, two-thirds of MPs will be chosen by pre-selected electoral committees.

00:33The last third will be hand-picked by President Ahmed al-Shara.

00:38Residents of the Syrian capital showed little enthusiasm.

00:43Frankly, I am not hopeful for anything.

00:46I have no hope for anything at all.

00:48Nothing.

00:49I hope that something will happen for the better.

00:52I wish, as a person, that something will happen for the better.

00:55But I have no hope for anything.

00:58Among the issues at stake, the fate of minorities.

01:02North-eastern Kurdish-controlled and Druze-majority areas are excluded from the vote.

01:08Like here in Sueda, where the Druze community has been the target of sectarian violence.

01:14Sueda is divided.

01:17Our friends who believe in the rebuilding of Syria and are against all external interventions,

01:24they support us and they say they will stick with us.

01:28The other side, those who are really hurt by what happened in Sueda, are asking us to withdraw.

01:33Ahmad al-Shara is seeking international legitimacy.

01:40This vote is seen as a way of showing the new leadership can accept pluralism and reform.

01:45But the process is undermined by procedural concerns, weak oversight, and the risk of political manipulation.

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