Syria to hold presidential election in June
Mohammed al-Lahham said candidates could register to run from Tuesday.
Bashar al-Assad is expected to seek a third seven-year term, despite an uprising against his rule that has left an estimated 150,000 people dead and forced 9 million from their homes.
World powers who support the opposition have denounced the plans for an election as a "parody of democracy".
Multiple candidates
At a special session of the People's Assembly in Damascus, Mr Lahham said voting for Syrians living outside the country would take place at embassies on 28 May. Those resident in Syria would be able to cast their ballots from 09:00 to 19:00 on 3 June, he added.
Mr Lahham did not say how the government planned to organise voting in contested areas or in the large swathes of the country that are controlled by the opposition.
He also did not mention how they would deal with the more than 6 million people who have been displaced from their homes in the past three years, the 2.7 million refugees in neighbouring countries, or many expatriates living in countries where Syrian embassies have been closed since the uprising began in 2011.
The announcement came just hours after mortar shells exploded about 100m (320ft) from the parliament building in central Damascus, killing five people, according to state TV.
President Assad - who succeeded his father Hafez in 2000 and was re-elected in 2007, taking 98% of the vote in a referendum - has not said publicly whether he will stand. However, no-one doubts that he will seek a third term, says the BBC's Lyse Doucet in Damascus.
For the first time, there can be more than one name on the ballot, but no other Syrian is expected to be able or willing to come forth who could pose a real challenge to a leader who has already survived far longer than many expected, our correspondent adds.
Amendments to the constitution approved in a widely-criticised referendum in 2012 mean that there can be multiple candidates. But they must have lived in Syria for the past 10 years and hold no other nationality, which effectively disqualifies key opposition figures in exile.
Earlier this month, Western and Gulf countries that support the opposition dismissed any idea of a presidential vote in the midst of a civil war.
The Friends of Syria said the government's "unilateral decision" was entirely inconsistent with the call for the establishment of a transitional governing body to oversee constitutional reforms, which was discussed at UN-backed peace talks in Geneva earlier this year.
"Elections organized by the Assad regime would be a parody of democracy, would reveal the regime's rejection of the basis of the Geneva talks, and would deepen the division of Syria," said the 11-strong group, which includes the US, UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
"Bashar al-Assad intends these elections to sustain his dictatorship."
The UN and Arab League envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, warned in March that if there was an election, the opposition would probably not be interested in pursuing further peace talks with the government.
In a separate development, French President Francois Hollande said on Sunday that he had "information" but no proof suggesting pro-Assad forces were still using chemical weapons.
It comes only days before a 27 April deadline for the government to have handed over all declared chemical agents to the joint mission led by the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Mr Assad agreed to the elimination of Syria's chemical arsenal by 30 June after hundreds of people died in an attack outside Damascus last year.
BBC
