[2] During the French Mandate and after independence, the parliamentary elections in Syria have been held under a system similar to the Lebanese one, with fixed representation for every religious community, including Druze, Alawites and Christians.
The presidential candidate was appointed by the parliament, on suggestion of the Baath Party, and needed to be confirmed for a seven-year term in a national single-candidate referendum.
Elections are officially designated as the event of "renewing the pledge of allegiance" to the Assad family and the state enforces voting as a compulsory duty on every citizen.
Announcement of the results are followed by Ba'athist rallies conducted across the country extolling the regime, wherein supporters declare their "devotion" to the President and celebrate "the virtues" of Assad dynasty.
A series of presidential elections organized by the cadres of the Ba'ath Party has been held every seven years since Bashar al-Assad's ascension to Presidency in 2000, which he regularly wins with overwhelming majority of votes.
[26] By theoretically permitting non-Ba'athist activities, the government was able to mobilize recruits and militias from anti-opposition political parties at a time when regime's prospects for survival looked bleak in the Syrian civil war.
[27] The government then pursued an intense Baathification campaign with ideological vigor, such as packing the legislature with Ba'athist army officers and commanders of Ba'ath Brigades since the 2016 parliamentary elections.
Overall, elections continue to be sham process, characterized by wide-scale rigging, repetitive voting and absence of voter registration and verification systems.
Hadi al-Bahra, president of the Syrian National Coalition, said that an 18-month transitional period was needed to establish "a safe, neutral, and quiet environment" for free elections, as outlined in the UNSC Resolution 2254.