Syria's constitution committee set basic principles for final formulation

Syria's constitution committee set basic principles for final formulation
The committee charged with drafting a new constitution has already put the basic principles for the suggested constitution and has founded a mini committee for final formulation, private al-Watan newspaper said Tuesday.

Quoting a source in the committee, al-Watan said the mini committee will complete its mission next week and a press conference will be held to clarify the new basic principles for the constitution.

The source said the new constitution will be devised on the basis of a democratic and civil state, noting that the committee has reviewed a number of constitutions including the French and Moroccan, and is working on a daily basis to complete its mission.

In mid October, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced the formation of the committee to prepare a new constitution that still needs to be ratified by the parliament before being put for a general referendum.

The part of the constitution that many Syrians want amended is section 8 which states that the Baath party is the leader of the nation and the society.

The source stressed that the proposed constitution would cancel the monopoly of the ruling Baath party and open the door for all political parties to compete.

It said election of the president will be by direct voting, thus cancelling the currently-underway system of referendum, pointing out that the new constitution will extremely exceed the demands of a number of opposition figures and is almost in tune with the French constitution without neglecting the cultural diversity in Syria.

Editor: Bi Mingxin

English.news.cn   2011-11-22 17:30:55 FeedbackPrintRSS
DAMASCUS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua)