SYRIA- Casting the ball into the camp of its detractors, the Syrian government approved a bill paving the way for a new system of political representation, based on a plurality of parties. The Syrian regime was accused of perpetrating a sleight of hand on Monday after it moved to end a ban on opposition parties but ensured that they could never come to power. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has recently introduced a package of new measures that aim at easing up restraints on politics and economy, lifting the most controversial state of emergency that has been in place in the county for around 50 years, giving unprecedented freedom in different spheres, and granting general amnesty.
The bill is allowing new political parties to operate, reversing a decades-old ban on organized political opposition to President Bashar al-Assad's ruling Baath party and taking a step toward long-promised reforms. The move to loosen the Baath party's grip on political life in Syria, under Baath rule since 1963 has been discussed by government officials since 2005.
Announcing the bill, Adnan Mahmoud, Minister of Information, said the new law will lay the legislative foundations for the reformed political process, based on pluralism as the guiding line for democratic representation. He declared himself confident that the reform would revitalize the political process and boost broad participation in public affairs, as promised by President Bashar al-Assad.
On 24 July, the Syrian cabinet endorsed the political multi-party bill as part of the government's reform program and in a bid to "enrich the political life, activate it, share responsibilities and alternate the possession of power," Syrian Arab News Agency said.
"The establishment of any party has to be based on ... a commitment to the constitution, democratic principles, the rule of law and a respect for freedom and basic rights," SANA added, referring to conditions to be met by parties that want to apply for a license to operate legally.
But it is unlikely to do so. Opposition activists pointed out that the cabinet had shied away from any offer to abandon a constitutional clause that enshrines President al-Assad's Ba'ath party as the sole source of political power in the country.
Syria Report, an economic newsletter based in Damascus, said that the law had been designed in a way that would limit the formation of Kurdish and Islamic parties, “the two constituencies that are traditionally believed to be the best organized and committed.”
Activists and protesters said the draft law, like previous steps, were largely symbolic and had come too late.
“Our struggle with the authorities is not over laws. It is a struggle over freedoms,” said Louay Hussein, a prominent opposition figure in Damascus. “A new law is not going to stop the government from violating our personal and political freedoms. So, that law does not really have any significance.”
"Before the uprising, we would never have dreamed of any of the promises for reform that are being presented now," said Omar Idlibi, a spokesperson for the Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists that has taken the lead in organizing and documenting protests. "But these kind of laws, now, are non-starters," Mr. Idlibi said.
"The Syrian regime is just easing international pressure to implement political and social reforms in Syria. The regime is simply constitutionalizing dictatorship through this new law that lacks basic elements for political parties to be formed freely," said Hassan Chalabi, a member of the Syrian National Salvage Congress.
Chalabi said the proposal "does not fulfill the aspirations of the opposition and the people of Syria." Others say the prerequisites required to form a new party make it nearly impossible to do so.
"The law stipulates that any political party needs to have at least 2,000 members representing at least seven Syrian provinces before being active," said Damascus lawyer Anwar Al Bounni, who heads the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research.
He added that the parties cannot be active until they are legalized by a committee formed by the minister of interior, a judge and three other members appointed by the president. This stipulation, Al Bounni said, makes it impossible for opposition parties to establish a presence, despite the new law.
"The law issued by the Syrian government is just for the media consumption and to delude the international community that the Syrian regime is implementing reforms. The reality is that it is not," Al Bounni said.
As a result, the new bill would only allow independent parties the right to operate in opposition or as members of ruling coalition – but only as subservient junior partners to the Ba'athists.
The bill stipulates that the establishment of any party should not be based on religious, tribal, regional, denominational, or profession-related basis or on the basis of discrimination due to ethnicity, gender or race. It added that a party's formation must be done on democratic basis.
The bill—which still needs parliamentary approval and is expected to pass—is unlikely to appease the street protesters or help draw the hard-line opposition into talks with the government in a national dialogue meant to push through such reforms.
The draft political-party law sets strict criteria for the formation of new parties, including commitment to the constitution, which even President al-Assad has conceded needs overhauling but hasn't presented a detailed plan for how to change it.
Other criteria include a ban on links or affiliation to any non-Syrian political groupings and the prohibition of parties based on religion, tribe, denomination or profession. This prevents Islamist parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood from launching political movements. The draft law will continue to outlaw about a dozen Kurdish parties operating illegally in Syria's northeast.
Applications for a license are to be considered by a committee that will give an explanation for any rejection, the official Syrian news agency Sana reported.
Analysts in Damascus say the law is undermined by the continued constitutional provision that stipulates the Baath party is the leading party in "state and society."
Syria isn't formally a single-party state, but since 1972 only political parties that are part of the National Progressive Front—which is dominated by the ruling Baath party—have been permitted.
In reality, the non-Baath parties have little power in a largely rubber-stamp parliament, in which the National Progressive Front is guaranteed the majority of the seats.
The Baath Party, which calls for “unity, freedom and socialism,” came to power in 1963 after a military coup. One of the protesters’ main demands is abolishing Article 8 from the Syrian Constitution, which stipulates that the Baath Party is the leader of the state and society.
President al-Assad’s other steps, described by the government as concessions since the uprising began, included issuing several pardons, lifting the decades-old emergency rule and granting thousands of Kurds, a minority group, Syrian nationality.
But these steps have not only failed to mollify the protesters, but given them new justification to expand their protests, because they see the steps as meaningless. Mr. Hussein said “the opposition would start trusting the government authorities only when they end the crackdown against the protesters and release the thousands of people detained in the past four months under the emergency rule that President al-Assad claims has been disbanded.”
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