This is the first time Ahmed al-Sharaa has commented on the timing of the election since ousting former president Bashar al-Assad this month.
The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has said that holding elections in the war-torn country could take four years.
It is the first time Syria's new leader has spoken about election time since the opposition, led by al-Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), ousted former dictator Bashar al-Assad three weeks ago.
Drafting new laws could take three years, al-Sharaa told Saudi Arabia's state broadcaster Al Arabiya on Sunday.
He said that the elections can be held after four years because there will be a new census showing the number of people eligible to vote in the country. “Any meaningful election will require a full census,” he said.
Al-Sharaa said Syrians can testify a big change in their country for about a year. He said HTS – the main military and political force in Syria – will be eliminated at the international conference.
al-Sharaa's comments came as the new government in Damascus seeks to reassure its neighbors of peace and stability in the multi-ethnic country.
“Syria will not be a distraction for anyone,” Al Arabiya said.
Al-Sharaa said Syria shared its interests with Russia, a close ally and military supporter of al-Assad during the 13-year war in Syria, and reiterated his government's earlier protests. This month, he said that the relationship between Syria and Russia should meet the same interests.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the status of Russia's military presence in Syria could be discussed with the new leadership in Damascus.
“This is a question not only of maintaining our bases or our defenses but also of their operation, maintenance and delivery and interaction with the local side,” he said in an interview with the Russian news agency RIA published on Sunday.
Al-Sharaa also said that he hoped that the administration of the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, would lift the sanctions imposed on Syria.
Senior US diplomats who traveled to Damascus this month said al-Sharaa appeared to be wise and Washington decided to drop a $10m bounty on the head of the HTS leader.