Syria may not hold elections for four years, says HTS leader
Young men inspect portraits of missing people whose families say they were taken by the Assad regime, in Damascus, Syria, December 28, 2024
SYRIA might not hold elections for the next four years, interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa told a Saudi interviewer on Sunday.
Mr Sharaa, previously known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani, heads the al-Qaida offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which swept the Bashar al-Assad government aside earlier this month.
He said dialogue between different Syrian forces was needed before agreement on a new constitution and elections, and pointed to the mass dislocation of people by a 14-year civil war, with millions having fled abroad, as a reason it would take time to establish an accurate electoral roll.
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