minority

The committee which organised Syria's first parliamentary elections since the fall of Bashar al-Assad has acknowledged "significant shortcomings", after results showed only 13% of the seats contested were won by female and minority candidates.

“It’s now my duty to bring forth these specific voices representing the minorities of a country that was built on the work of minorities.”

The announcement comes after a public dispute earlier in the year between the Sentencing Council and the government over pre-sentence reports for offenders from certain minority groups.

Otherwise, these minorities may be shut out from political representation in Congress, state legislatures or county boards.

But there were no minimum quotas for female lawmakers, nor for those from the country's many ethnic and religious minorities.