If Assad goes, jihadis come. He is necessary in Syria unless it converts fromislams
“If Assad goes, jihadis come. He is necessary in Syria”
“If an election were held and a pro-Sharia Sunni came to power like in Egypt? Would you be ok with that?”
Syrian society, like Palestinian society, is not ready for elections - no independent civil society institutions or independent political parties have yet been allowed to develop under the Ba’athist dictatorship.
It does not mean that Assad is good, just because jihadis are worse - and they are not the only options. The only justification that Assad has for his horrific Ba’ath Party ideology (the last government on Earth guided by the Nazi principle of socialism based on race), or his hereditary dictatorship, is the proposal that the alternative is worse.
If the Ba’ath Party would reform, like Communist Parties did in other countries, then the same re-branded guys could sit at the same desks. But Assad himself, and his hereditary dictatorship should go, for any kind of acceptable end state. The Kurds also offer a possible non-jihadi alternative to Assad’s government, although not one that Turkey would accept. There is always the (relatively low cost) time-tested CIA approach of just installing our own strongman, to rule with an iron fist (likely unacceptable to Russia, who sits on the UN Security Council). Also, the expensive and difficult option of an interim government, installed and operated by the US coalition, or UN, for a decade or so, is another non-jihadi alternative to Assad.
In any event, whatever replaces an Assad dictatorship would have to be carefully managed, to avoid the significant threat of a jihadi/Muslim Brotherhood takeover that you rightly highlight. The Muslim Brotherhood have a motto: One man, one vote, one time. They view elections only as a means to take power, not as something they plan to continue. The Palestinian situation is a clear evidence of what should be expected from just tossing open a premature election and walking away.