Assad sets referendum to end single-party rule

DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar alAssad, who is fighting an Arab Spring-inspired revolt, on Wednesday called for a constitutional referendum that would effectively end nearly 50 years of single-party rule, state media said.

A day after rejecting United Nations ( UN) allegations of crimes against humanity, the Syrian leader set the referendum for February 26, in a move aimed at placating growing global outrage over the bloodshed.

The proposed charter drops Article 8, which declared the ruling Baath Party as the “leader of the state and society,” allowing for a multiparty system, state television said.

The president must be a Muslim man and may serve a maximum of two seven-year terms, although it is unclear if this would apply to Assad, who is already on his second term.

In April, Assad scrapped emergency rule—in force since 1963— when the Baathists took power in a coup d’etat. But he has repeatedly promised reforms that have failed to materialize since the uprising erupted in March.

The embattled 46-year-old president, who succeeded his late father Hafez in 2000, said that the Constitution would usher in a “new era” for Syria, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

The United States dismissed the move as laughable. Russia, a major weapons supplier to Damascus, welcomed it.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said that “it’s actually quite laughable—it makes a mockery of the Syrian revolution.”

“Promises of reforms have usually been followed by an increase in brutality and have never been delivered upon by this regime since the beginning of peaceful demonstrations in Syria,” he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that “we certainly believe a new Constitution to end oneparty rule in Syria is a step forward. It is a welcome idea and we hope the Constitution will be adopted.”

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) is likely to reject the Constitution, given that one of its main guiding principles is “to overthrow the regime using all legal means.”

Regardless, the proposed charter rules out most of the opposition as it bans religious parties and dual citizens, preventing the Council, which includes the Muslim Brotherhood, and most of its leadership from running for office.

The SNC, the main opposition group that is hoping to win recognition abroad as Syria’s legitimate authority, has agreed that current leader Burhan Ghalioun will remain in place for another three months, a group spokeswoman said on Wednesday night.

Ghalioun has served as leader since the group’s founding in October to oppose the Assad regime.

Ghalioun is an academic who has been living in exile in France for more than 30 years. A leftist Arab nationalist, he was seen as the person who could bring together the council’s various factions, from Islamists and nationalists to liberals and independents.