People's_Assembly_of_Syria
People's Assembly of Syria
Legislative authority of the Syrian Arab Republic
The People's Assembly (Arabic: مَجْلِس الشَّعْب, ALA-LC: Majlis al-Shaʻb) is Syria's legislative authority. It has 250 members elected for a four-year term in 15 multi-seat constituencies. There are two main political fronts; the National Progressive Front and Popular Front for Change and Liberation. The 2012 elections, held on 7 May, resulted in a new parliament that, for the first time in four decades, was nominally based on a multi-party system.[1] In 1938, Fares Al-Khoury became the first Christian to be elected Speaker. In 2016 Hadiya Khalaf Abbas, Ph.D., representing Deir Ezzor since 2003, became the first woman elected to be the Speaker.[2][3][4] In 2017, Hammouda Sabbagh became the first Syriac Orthodox Christian to have held the post.[5]
The assembly meets at least three times a year and in special occasions called by the council's president or the president of the country.[6] Until 2012, the council primarily served as an institution to validate Syria's one-party system and the confirm the legislative proceedings of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath party.[7]