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.
Observers said six women and 10 members of religious and ethnic minorities were among the 119 people elected to the new People's Assembly on Sunday.
There was no direct popular vote. Instead, electoral colleges selected representatives for two-thirds of the 210 seats. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa is appointing the rest.
An election committee spokesman said the president's choices might compensate for the underrepresented components of society.
Twenty-one seats were not filled because the polls were postponed for security reasons in two Kurdish-controlled provinces in the north, and a third in the south which has seen deadly fighting between government forces and Druze militias.
Sharaa declared that the elections were a historic moment during a visit to a polling station and said the parliament would play an important oversight role during its 30-month term.
He promised a democratic and inclusive political transition after his Sunni Islamist group led the lightning rebel offensive that overthrew the Assad regime last December, ending a 13-year civil war that killed more than 600,000 people and displaced another 12 million.
However, the country has been rocked by several waves of deadly sectarian violence since then, fuelling fear and distrust among minorities.
Sunday's polls were overseen by the Higher Committee for the Syrian People's Assembly Elections, whose 11 members were chosen by the president in June. They appointed sub-committees for selecting up to 7,000 members of 140 electoral colleges covering 60 districts.
The candidates representing the 50 districts where voting took place all had to be electoral college members. Supporters of the former regime or terrorist organisations were barred from membership, as were advocates of secession, division or seeking foreign intervention.
Women made up 14% of the 1,500 candidates, yet there were no quotas for female lawmakers or for those from the country's many ethnic and religious minorities.
After publishing the preliminary election results, a spokesman acknowledged the unsatisfactory outcomes for women's representation and limited Christian representation, which consisted of only two seats.
The US estimates that 10% of Syria's population is Christian, while Sunni Muslims constitute 74%, other Muslim sects 13%, and Druze 3%.
Concerns remain over the elections not representing the will of the Syrian people, especially in light of ongoing sectarian tensions, highlighted by violence in regions like Suweida and clashes involving the Syrian Democratic Forces.
