DAMASCUS: Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Monday organising elections could take up to five years, the week after he was appointed interim president and less than two months after ousting Bashar al-Assad.

“My estimate is that the period of time will be approximately between four and five years until the elections,” Sharaa said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on a private Syrian television channel, adding that the infrastructure for the vote “needs to be re-established, and this takes time”.

In late December, he told Al Arabiya TV the election process could take four years. The infrastructure for the vote “needs to be re-established, and this takes time”, Sharaa added on Monday.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2025