Syria (MNN) — Syria’s first parliamentary elections since the former Assad regime fell are set for this weekend. But both external and internal pressures are at play.
“Anytime there’s an election in our part of the world, it’s always a little spicy,” says Samuel* from Redemptive Stories.
Syrian critics call the election a charade. Two-thirds of the 210-member parliament will be elected, but one-third will be appointed directly by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Syrians in Germany celebrate Fall of Assad Regime, 8 December 2024 (Photo courtesy of Shark1989z via Wikimedia Commons – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Samuel noted the contrast at the 2025 United Nations General Assembly last month, where al-Sharaa sat in the same room with leaders of governments who had once been trying to arrest him.
“One of the things that people need to realize is that it seems on all external measures that he (al-Sharaa) is walking this tightrope between his own people that have put him in power, and then also walking the other side is what the West wants from him,” Samuel says.
One of those tightrope issues is what to do with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The U.S.-backed, Kurdish militants have controlled northeast Syria for years, and they don’t want a centralized government.
“Even though there’s been an agreement put in place to enforce them towards this, they still are trying to drag their feet as long as [they] can, because they want to preserve autonomy and their identity,” says Samuel, referring to the March 2025 pact between the SDF and the government.
It’s a reasonable concern. Neighboring Turkiye considers the SDF a terrorist organization and has threatened military action if the Kurdish group does not integrate into Syria’s new government. Both Israel and the U.S. have a military presence and differing goals they would like to see achieved in Syria.
Another topic the West is watching is the inclusion of minorities in Syria’s future. For the Druze, Alawite, and Christian populations, Samuel says the new parliament “could create space for them to actually run for election and hopefully be elected.”
Yet for minorities within Kurdish-controlled Syria, Samuel says there have been huge strides in terms of religious freedom and religious plurality. Priests and pastors from Muslim backgrounds have been able to operate without fear of government attention. That could change, though, if a centralized, Sunni Islam-dominated culture and system spreads across the nation.
Please pray today that God will use the upcoming elections, however imperfect they are, to stabilize Syria and strengthen the Church. Samuel explains that the flood of young people and families who left Syria during the nation’s civil war created a significant gap.
Refugees from Idlib fleeing the Syrian Civil War in a camp in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon.
(Photo courtesy of DFID – UK Department for International Development via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
“One of the greatest needs we have across the region of the Arab world are new young leaders to grow up and to step into those roles, to lead the Church in the future,” he says.
“So that’s my deep prayer, that this [election] will become a stabilizing act that will create more space for more leaders to be trained, developed, and then walk into their gifting within the context of God’s Kingdom in Syria.”
*Pseudonym
Header photo: U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio meets President of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa in New York City, New York on 22 September 2025 (Photo by U.S. Department of State via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)
