Damascus (TDI): Syria’s newly appointed president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, pledged on Thursday that he will form an inclusive transitional government representing diverse communities that will build institutions and run the country until it can hold free and fair elections.
Sharaa addressed the nation in his first speech since being appointed president for the transitional period on Wednesday by armed factions that toppled former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime in a lightning offensive last year.
The armed group that led the offensive, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, has since established an interim government that has welcomed a steady stream of key Western and Arab diplomatic delegations keen to help stabilize the country after thirteen years of civil war.
Sharaa said he would form a small legislative body to fill the parliamentary void until new polls were held, after the Syrian parliament was dissolved on Wednesday.
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He said he would also in the coming days announce the formation of a committee that would prepare to organize a national dialogue conference that would be a platform for Syrians to discuss the future political program of the country.
That would be followed by a “constitutional declaration,” he stated, in an apparent reference to the process of making a new Syrian constitution.
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Sharaa has previously said the process of drafting a new constitution and conducting elections may take up to four years.
