Top Syrian Kurdish official slams parliamentary vote in northeast as 'undemocratic'
Foza Yusuf, a senior figure in Syria’s Kurdish-led autonomous administration, said the May 24 parliamentary vote was structured to disadvantage Kurdish parties.
One of the senior-most figures in the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria slammed a delayed round of parliamentary voting that took place on May 24 in the Kurdish-majority northeast as “undemocratic.”
Foza Yusuf told Al-Monitor in an exclusive interview that the mechanism for holding the elections “was criticized by us from the beginning as undemocratic. And even this mechanism was altered further before the election to put our people at a further disadvantage.”
Yusuf was alluding to the electoral system instituted by the central government under the terms of the transitional constitution, which was unilaterally declared in March last year.
Under its terms, the president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, appoints 70 members of the 210-member parliament, and electoral colleges made up of preapproved delegates elect the remaining legislators. Critics say the system allows the central government to eliminate candidates it does not like.
