2007 Syrian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Syria on 22 April 2007.[1] The number of seats reserved for the parties in the National Progressive Front was increased to 170 from 167, decreasing the seats for independents to 80 from 83.[2] The election was boycotted by the opposition in exile, who described it as a "farce".[3]

2007 Syrian parliamentary election
22 April 2007
All 250 seats to the Parliament of Syria
126 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout56.12%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Bashar al-Assad
Party Ba'ath Party Independent
Alliance National Progressive Front
Last election 167 83
Seats won 169 81
Seat change 2 2
Speaker before election

Mahmoud al-Abrash
Ba'ath Party

 Elected Speaker

Mahmoud al-Abrash
Ba'ath Party

Pre-election events

The number of entrants to the parliamentary election race at the deadline reached 9,770, of whom 2,293 were approved, including 158 women. The entrants competed for 250 seats which are divided among the 14 governorates of Syria as follows:

Governorate Seats Percentage
Damascus 29 11.6%
Rif Dimashq 19 7.6%
Quneitra 5 2%
Daraa 10 4%
As Suwaydā' 6 2.4%
Homs 23 9.2%
Tartous 13 5.2%
Latakia 17 6.8%
Hama 22 8.8%
Idlib 18 7.2%
Aleppo 52 20.8%
Raqqa 8 3.2%
Deir ez-Zor 14 5.6%
Al Hasakah 14 5.6%

Results

According to results released on 26 April 2007, the National Progressive Front won 169 seats, while independents won the other 81 seats.[4] Turnout was 56.12% of the 11.96 million eligible voters, and 30 female candidates were elected, exactly as many as in 2003.[5] Opponents of the government and human rights activists claimed fraud and a turnout of at most 10 percent.[6]

Election results:
  National Progressive Front
  Non-partisans
 Summary of the 22 April 2007 People's Council of Syria election results
Parties Votes % Seats Seats inside NPF
National Progressive Front (al-jabha al-waTaniyyah at-taqaddumiyyah) 169
134
8
  • Socialist Unionists (al-wahdawiyyun al-ishtirakiyyun)
 6
5
4
3
3
3
2
  • Arabic Democratic Unionist Party (Hizb al-ittihad al-'arabi ad-dimuqrati)
 1
0
non-partisans 81
Total (turnout 56.12 %)   250
Source: Syrian parliament

References
  1. Syria to hold election on April 22 Press TV, Accessed 27 April 2007
  2. Criticism of the Upcoming Parliamentary Elections in the Official Syrian Press and Among the Syrian Opposition Middle East Media Research Institute, Accessed 27 April 2007
  3. Ruling Syrian party wins election BBC News, Accessed 27 April 2007
  4. Syria's ruling party wins parliament elections People's Daily, Accessed 27 April 2007
  5. Syria's ruling party wins in vote Houston Chronicle, Accessed 27 April 2007
  6. JTW News - Elections in Syria
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.