The new Syrian government has adopted a temporary constitution that concentrates great power in the hands of the temporary president and retains the Islamic law as the basis of a legal system.
Temporary President Ahmed al-Shara signed a constitutional declaration on Thursday after dissolving in January of the previous Constitution under the authoritarian president, Bashar Al-Assad. Mr. Al-Shara, who led Mr. Al-Assad in December, promised to form an inclusive government and announced it as the beginning of what he called “a new history” for a nation after a decade of dictatorship and a long civic war.
The statement guarantees “freedom of opinion, expression, information, publication and print.” If it is supported, it would be a dramatic departure from the state of Draconian Supervision under Mr. Al-Assad. It is also promised to protect the women’s rights and rights of all Syrians during the five -year transitional period, after which a permanent constitution will be adopted and elections for president and parliament will be held.
However, some of the diverse blend of ethnic and religious groups in Syria are still suspicious of the promises of the new leader to create an inclusive government because of his roots as the head of Islamist extremist rebel group.
President’s powers
The temporary constitution gives the executive body of the President and the authority to declare a state of emergency. The president will appoint one third of the legislative body, which will serve as a temporary parliament for the transitional period. The other two -thirds will be elected by the election commission supervised by the Committee named the President.
The new constitution requires court independence. However, the president is solely responsible for the appointment of judges to the new Syrian Constitutional Court, the body was seemingly intended to be considered the responsibility of Mr. Al-Shara. The document does not give power to any other body to approve his meetings, but it only determines that judges must be impartial.
Abdul Hamid Al-Awak, a member of the Committee who has made a new constitution, said at a press conference on Thursday that the Declaration ensured the separation of powers, unlike the concentration of government in relation to other branches of power in the hands of Mr. Al-Assad when he was in power.
But the caring authority that the new declaration holds in the hands of the President during the transitional period could undo those in Syria, who hope to turn sharply from more than five decades of dictatorship under Mr. Al-Assad and his father before him.
The Special Envoy of the United Nations for Syria, Guy Pedersen, said on Friday that he hoped that the Constitutional Declaration “would move Syria to renew the rule of law and promote a neat inclusive crossing.”
Islamic law will remain a legal foundation
The temporary constitution has retained the provision prescribed by the President of Syria must be a Muslim as well as the old constitution. And like his predecessor, the new constitution gives the central importance to Islamic law. The new document says it will be a major source of legislation, at the same time ensuring that “the freedom of belief is guaranteed.”
However, all rights, including freedom of religion, can be reduced if it is considered to be violated by national security or public order, among other things, the Constitution says.
The new government in Syria is led by Sunni Muslim former rebels who fought against Mr. Al-Assad during the civil war in the country. Because they withdrew to power in Damascus, the skeptics called into question Mr. Al-Shara The rights of beliefs.
As a rebel leader, Mr. Al-Shara commanded the Islamist armed group once federal with Al Qaeda. Some are asked if he really left his former stubborn jihadist views, although his rebel group interrupted ties with Al Qaeda for years before taking power.
The promises to protect minorities
Syria is a home of a diverse range of ethnic and religious groups, and the Constitution promises to protect the rights of all Syrians and protect them from discrimination. But sectasic tensions lingering, and those Last week he broke out maliciously When Assad’s loyalists sat down government security forces, which encouraged a sharp act that moved to deadly sectative attacks on civilians, according to the groups of the United Nations and the war controls.
These attacks seem to be directed against Alawita minority, the amount of Shiite Islam to whom the Assad family belongs. They were a reminder that Mr. Al-Shara was still far from securing control of all Syrian territory, and perhaps even over all the forces associated with the government.
The United States and the European Nations are reluctant to abolish the sanctions from the time of Assad until new leaders of Syria show that they are dedicated to the inclusive political process and protection of minority rights. The abolition of these sanctions remains a crucial step for the resurrection of the economy in the country-one of the most important challenges for the Government of Mr. Al-Shara.
Although the Constitution is promised to protect the rights of minority, it caused concern among at least one major ethnic minority, Syrian Kurds.
The Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the forces of the Kurdish -controlled Kurdish forces, which has said that the new document “reproduced by authoritarism in a new form” and criticized what he says they are unverified executive powers.
It is unclear whether the Kurdish dissatisfaction will affect the Constitution The agreement reached this week Between the new government of the country and the Kurdish forces supported by the United States to involve them in state civilian and military institutions.
Freedom, with some exceptions
A pledge to guarantee freedom of opinion, expression, information, publication and prints “comes with some exceptions, including the Assad regime celebration.
The Constitutional Declaration guarantees women’s rights to education and work, adding that it will have complete “social, economic and political rights”.
From his climb to power, Mr. Al-Shara seemed to want to alleviate domestic and international concerns about the role of women in Nova Syria. In January, he gave speech using the language sensitive to gender, which were rarely used in the region. He emphasized the role of women in the revolution and the suffering they experienced.
