Syria’s ‘Election’ Farce—When the World Claps for a Scripted Sham

[ad_1] Days after masked gunmen raided Wadi al-Nasara, Syria's Christian heartland, killing two and leaving one injured, the world celebrated Syria’s “free elections”—elections that had been removed from free and proposed a brand new risk to Indigenous Christians within the nation.

I just lately known as George, a Christian engineer in Damascus, who just lately escaped a bomb assault whereas in church and prefers to offer solely his first identify as a consequence of worry of ethnic and non secular persecution. After talking to a dozen different Syrians throughout the nation—totally different beliefs, totally different ethnicities—I needed his perspective.

<img id="10850184" alt="" caption="A ballot box is pictured as members of Syria's local committees vote in the country's selection process to designate an interim parliament, in Damascus on October 5, 2025. Syria will select members of its first post-Assad parliament on October 5 in a process criticised as undemocratic, with a third of the members appointed by interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)" captionoverride="A ballot box is pictured as members of Syria's local committees vote in the country's selection process to designate an interim parliament, in Damascus, on October 5, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)" credit="" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="6000" height="4000" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2238952250.jpg?w=640&quality=75&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2238952250.jpg?w=750&quality=75&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2238952250.jpg?w=1000&quality=75&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2238952250.jpg?w=1200&quality=75&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2238952250.jpg?w=1360&quality=75&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2238952250.jpg?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1 1600w" src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2238952250.jpg?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1"/> "Nuri, I did not even know [the elections were] taking place till I turned on the radio at 8 a.m.," he stated, a generator buzzing within the background. "They name this a vote? Six thousand hand-picked loyalists rubber-stamping 121 seats, whereas [Ahmed] al-Sharaa appoints 70 extra like extras in his personal play? Days after Wissam and Shafiq had been gunned down in Wadi al-Nasara, Pierre continues to be clinging to life. Christians focused once more, like we're disposable footnotes of their 'new Syria.' We're not in a democracy. We're in a farce. And the world's applauding the curtain name."

"Footnotes" echoes in my ears. Earlier than the battle, Christians numbered 1.5–2 million (8–10 p.c of the inhabitants). At the moment, roughly 300,000–450,000 (2–3 p.c) stay within the nation. In all probability fewer exist now.

I do know George's frustration. I've heard it from dozens like him—monks in Homs, shopkeepers in Aleppo, moms within the diaspora clinging to hope since Bashar al-Assad's fall final December. Then, voices crackled with optimism.

"This may very well be our flip," a Syrian Yezidi refugee instructed me in Erbil, Iraq. "Equal citizenship, no extra worry." Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, and Assyrian/Syriacs from Hassakeh within the diaspora dreamed of inclusion; Druze elders in Suwayda envisioned a mosaic mended. Alawites, scarred by massacres I documented—pogroms in Latakia that went unmourned. Now, 240 Alawite households are with out meals in Lebanon', asking my group ADFA for assist.

These previous weeks, dialing into Syria's fractured heartland, the script has flipped once more. "Theater for the galleries," a Druze activist in Suwayda texted after their province was "postponed" from voting—for "safety causes," as if exclusion equals security. A Kurdish mom in Raqqa, voice breaking, instructed me, "Our lands skipped, our sons massacred earlier this yr, and now this? No diaspora vote for hundreds of thousands overseas? It is rigged to erase us. Then we are going to construct our personal administration, with out Damascus.”

The elections? A mockery of democracy. Not a poll for Syria's 15 million souls, however 6,000 regime-vetted electors—fewer than fill a mid-sized stadium—deciding on a parliament to bless interim president and former terrorist chief al-Sharaa's whims. Three provinces locked out: Suwayda, Hassakeh, and Raqqa. No direct vote, no census counting the displaced, no seats for the diaspora. This is not transition; it is consolidation, guaranteeing dominance in a physique meant to draft a structure. As Afram Ishaq of the Syriac Union Occasion instructed SyriacPress, it is "far faraway from the spirit of participation ... a type of exclusion." The Syrian Democratic Council known as the elections a "political farce" unworthy of Syria's sacrifices.

Days earlier than this "vote," masked gunmen riddled Wadi al-Nasara with bullets, leaving two lifeless and 1000's terrified. Christians in Syria nonetheless face persecution—silent ethno-religious cleaning. Months in the past, a church in Damascus was attacked. Earlier this yr, Alawites and Druze confronted pogroms. But al-Sharaa jetted to the U.N., his "reforms" speech was applauded by world leaders ignoring blood on village streets. Speeches, as I beforehand wrote, do not cease the following bullet. They polish optics.

Enter the media's echo chamber of cautious optimism. Whereas I've phoned monks burying the younger and elders mourning Akitu, the Assyrian New Yr’s erasure in Syria, Western headlines serve a sanitized script. Reuters hailed a "milestone within the nation's shift away from the ousted regime," a "main take a look at of inclusivity," as if 6,000 proxies take a look at something however loyalty. They did notice a Damascus resident's despair, who stated, "I've no hope for something. I do not really feel something new will occur," echoing George's sentiments.

The New York Occasions known as the elections a "step towards extra democratic rule," glossing over the oblique farce as "rising pains." The AP framed it a "cautious step in political transition," ignoring vacant minority seats. The Guardian dubbed it a "tentative step in the direction of democratic polls," critiquing bias however burying it underneath Assad's shadow. Al Jazeera nodded to a "landmark second," although whispering of Sunni male dominance. The BBC famous exclusions however pivoted to "progress," in a vote that occurred in every single place besides the place it mattered—on the streets, and within the valleys.

George ended our name with a sigh: "We needed a future, Nuri. Not this fog." He is proper. The fog lifts solely after we refuse the applause. Syria's mosaic is not optionally available—it is the one map price following. Ignore it, and we'll all lose our approach.