Ahmed al-Sharaa, the country’s new leader, stated on Sunday on Al Arabiya TV that polls might take four years, emphasized the value of relations with Russia and Iran, and urged the US to remove its sanctions.
Sharaa also stated that local Kurdish-led forces, which Turkey opposes, should be incorporated into the national army in a broad interview three weeks after his Islamist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied rebels overthrew longstanding ruler Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive.
“The election process could take four years,” Sharaa told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya.
“We need to rewrite the constitution” which could take “two or three years”, added Sharaa.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, adopted in 2015, outlined a roadmap for a political transition in Syria that included drafting a new constitution and holding UN-supervised elections.
Visiting UN special envoy Geir Pedersen this month said he hoped Syria would “adopt a new constitution… and that we will have free and fair elections” after a transitional period.
Diplomats from the United States, Turkey, the European Union and Arab countries who met in Jordan this month also called for “an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government formed through a transparent process”.
An interim government has been appointed to steer the country until March 1.
Sharaa expressed hope that the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump would lift sanctions imposed under Assad on the now war-torn and impoverished country.
“The sanctions on Syria were issued based on the crimes that the regime committed,” Sharaa said, adding that since Assad was gone, “these sanctions should be removed automatically”.
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