Syrian Cabinet Passes Bill of New Parties Law

The Syrian Cabinet approved during a session chaired by Prime Minister Adel Safar on Sunday the bill of the new political parties law in Syria as part of the directives of the political reform program and the efforts to enrich and revitalize political life, share responsibility and alternate the possession of power.

The bill includes the basic goals and principles regulating parties, the conditions and procedures for establishing and licensing them, legislations regarding parties’ resources, funding, rights and duties.

The requisites for establishing any party are as follows:

1-Commitment to the constitution, principles of democracy and the rule of law, respecting liberties, basic rights, world declarations of human rights and the agreements approved by the Syrian Arab Republic.

2-Preserving the unity of the homeland and bolstering society’s national unity.

3-Making public the principles, goals, methods and funding of a party.

4-A party cannot be based on religious, tribal, regional, denominational, or profession-related basis or on the basis of discrimination due to ethnicity, gender or race.

5-A party’s formation, selection of leadership and commencement of activities must be carried out using democratic basis.

6-A party’s methods must not include establishing public or covert military or paramilitary formations, nor must it use violence of any kind, threaten with it, or instigate it.

7-A party cannot be a branch of a non-Syrian party or political organization, not can it be affiliated to one.

The cabinet also announced that official work hours in ministries, administrations, establishments and other public bodies during the month of Ramadan are from 9 AM to 3 PM.

This excludes public bodies where the nature of their work requires continuing work past 3 PM, in which case the actual work hours during Ramadan are decided according to the nature of their work and the requirements of public interest.

In a statement to the press after the meeting, Minister of Information Dr. Adnan Mahmoud said that the new parties law bill lays the legislative and legal foundations for political life and party pluralism, which are the basis of the democratic system.

Dr. Mahmoud said that the law will revitalize political activity and expand proper participation in running the state by establishing a suitable environment for new parties for the purpose of alternating the possession of power and participating in the responsibilities of government.

The Minister pointed out that the law was designed to be modern and similar to parties laws around the world while taking Syria’s characteristics into account, which is why no parties can be formed on religious, sectarian, tribal or regional bases, adding the tens of thousands of citizens provided suggestions and opinions through the Tasharukia website, which helped enrich the bill.

In turn, Minister of Justice Judge Tayseer Qala Awwad said that the full bill includes 40 articles, including parties’ goals, principles, establishment conditions, resources, and financial, general and closing legislations.

On applying for establishing a party, the Minister said that the application should be referred to the committee with the signature of 50 of its members, adding that the members should be of Syrian nationality for more than 10 years, over 25 years old, not convicted of an offense or felony, and not a member of another Syrian or foreign party.

He indicated that the minimum number of any party members should be 1000, and that they should belong to at least half of the Syrian governorate with each governorate represented by at least 5% of the overall number of members.

The Minister pointed out that the committee will decide, within 60 days from receiving the application, whether to accept or reject the application, and that rejection will be accompanied by an explanation.

He added that in case the committee fails to decide within that period, the application will be considered accepted, and in case the application is rejected, the applicants can object within 15 days and the court will have 60 days to reach a decision.