Parliamentary elections were held in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

on 7 July 1947, with a second round in some constituencies on 18 July.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p221 They were the first elections since official independence in 1946.

Electoral system

A new electoral law was approved by Parliament in May 1947. This introduced a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

, with members elected from single-member constituencies by universal male suffrage. Any candidate that received more than 10% of the vote was allowed to contest the second round if no candidate had received an absolute majority. Ten seats were reserved for Bedouins, one of which was for the Jabal

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

. The electoral law also required voting to be extended by a day if first round turnout in a constituency was less than 60%.Karim Atassi (2018)
Syria, the Strength of an Idea: The Constitutional Architectures of Its Political Regimes
', pp144–147

Campaign

Prior to the elections, the National Bloc split into two factions. The

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

of President

Shukri al-Quwatli Shukri al-Quwatli (; 6 May 189130 June 1967) was a Syrian politician and statesman who was the first president of post-independence Syria, in 1943. He began his career as a dissident working towards the independence and unity of the Ottoman Em ...

was formed in early 1947, with a group of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

-based opponents of al-Quwatli forming another faction. Al-Quwatli's opponents and members of the newly formed

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology ...

contested the elections together under the Liberal Party (''Hizb al-Ahrar'') name. Neither the National Party or its opponents produced a lengthy manifesto. The National Party was largely interested in protecting wealthy residents of Damascus, while the Aleppo-based opposition published a short manifesto proposing reforms in rural areas to raise the standard of living.

Results

Aftermath

Following the elections, Fares al-Khoury was elected

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

and incumbent Prime Minister

Jamil Mardam Bey Jamil Mardam Bey (; ; 1895–1960), was a Syrian politician. He was born in Damascus to a prominent aristocratic family of Turkish origins. He is a descendant of the Ottoman general, statesman and Grand Vizier Lala Mustafa Pasha and the penulti ...

was appointed to form a government by al-Quwatli. In 1948 the non-Baath Party opposition members formed the People's Party.

References

{{Authority control

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Parliamentary elections in Syria Election and referendum articles with incomplete results