Syria's Sharaa says elections could take up to five years

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said 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.

"I estimate that the period 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.

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.

He also promised "a law regulating political parties", adding that Syria would be "a republic with a parliament and an executive government".

Military commanders last Wednesday appointed Sharaa interim president, after Islamist-led rebel forces toppled Assad on December 8, ending more than five decades of the family's iron-fisted rule.

Sharaa's appointment has been welcomed by key regional players Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Sharaa was also tasked with forming an interim legislature and the Assad-era parliament was dissolved, along with the Baath party which ruled Syria for decades.

Syria's constitution was also repealed, and the Assad-era army and security forces were dissolved, as were armed groups including Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

A transitional government has been installed to steer Syria until March 1.