The 1947 Syrian parliamentary election was held on 7 July 1947, with a second round in some constituencies on 18 July, to elect members of the unicameral Chamber of Deputies, the predecessor to the People's Assembly.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p221 They were the first elections since the country's independence in 1946.
Electoral system A new electoral law was approved by Parliament in May 1947. This introduced a two-round system, 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 in Jabal al-Druze. 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 had split into two factions; the National Party of President Shukri al-Quwatli was formed in early 1947, with a group of Aleppo-based opponents of al-Quwatli forming another faction. Al-Quwatli's opponents and members of the newly formed Ba'ath Party 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 and incumbent Prime Minister Jamil Mardam Bey was appointed to form a government by al-Quwatli. In 1948 the non-Ba'ath Party opposition members formed the People's Party.
References