Assad to Receive Text of New Constitution on Wednesday
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday Syria was pressing ahead with the reform program President Bashar al-Assad had promised in a series of speeches last year and would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution to replace the current one which enshrines the dominant role of his Baath party.
Syria’s state-run news agency SANA said that Assad would receive the text drawn up by an appointed panel on Wednesday.
The panel tasked with drafting the new constitution had decided to limit presidential terms to a maximum of two seven-year mandates, Al-Watan newspaper reported in January.
Assad on January 10 said the referendum would be held early March.
The new text also provides for the abolition of the presidential referendum which has been in force since 1971, replacing it with pluralistic elections.
"If one of the candidates fails to secure 51 percent of the vote, a second round is expected between the two candidates" who secure the largest number of votes in such an election, the newspaper said.
Each candidate must obtain the support of "15 percent of members of parliament," which has 250 seats, to qualify to run in the elections.
Assad, who is facing an unprecedented uprising against his regime, appointed on October 15 a committee tasked with drafting a new constitution.
Under the current constitution, which dates to 1971, the president can be re-elected for an unlimited number of mandates. The late president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, ruled for five consecutive terms.
Assad succeeded his father in 2000.
The newspaper did not specify whether the new constitution would have a retroactive effect. President Assad is due to complete his second seven-year mandate in 2014.
The committee also proposes to scrap article 8 of the constitution, which enshrines the ruling Baath party as the "leader of state and society," replacing it with clauses on "political pluralism" and "free elections."
The removal of this controversial article has been one of the central demands of the opposition since protests erupted in March.
Source: Agence France Presse
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