11) COMMUNIST PARTIES WIN 11 SEATS IN SYRIAN ELECTIONS

By S. Saleh Waziruddin

     The first Syrian parliamentary elections under the new constitution, passed by 90% of voters in a referendum with 57% turnout, concluded in May with seat gains for Syria's Communist Parties. The elections had a turnout of 51% (active duty military and police were ineligible) and voters elected 250 representatives from 16 geographic constituencies. The majority of seats are reserved for category "A", required to be workers or peasants as defined by labour laws, and the remaining representatives are elected as category "B" from the other classes. 

     The Communist Party of Syria (Bagdash) ran 30 candidates (13 in category A) in 15 constituencies and elected eight, an increase of three from the previous parliament. The Communist Party of Syria (Unified) elected three representatives, reporting that its candidates' individual votes amounted to 13% of the total, with the most popular candidate winning 300,000 votes.

     Voters cast ballots for individual candidates, but were provided at the polling station with the "National Unity List" with candidates from parties in the National Progressive Front (NPF), which includes the two Communist Parties as well as the Arab Socialist Ba'ath (Renaissance) Party and eight others. Only 41 of those elected were incumbents from the previous parliament, and more than 80 independents were elected. 

     The results announcement was delayed in some areas because of appeals filed about violations of the election law, and re‑counts were conducted in some polling stations. The Communist Party of Syria (B) reported over 21 violations in Aleppo, including the names of Communist candidates being crossed out from the National Unity List at one polling station. The CPS(B) filed two appeals to the Supreme Constitutional Court about these violations, one of which challenged the right of a winning candidate to be classified in category A because he was a lawyer, although a law professor. 

     The Communist Party of Syria (U) criticized the new parliament for having only 12% (30) women, whereas previously women made up 18% of the legislature, and said it would have preferred the elections to be held under better circumstances because of the violence in the country which limited the turnout. The CPS(U) criticized some parties for boycotting the election, calling this an inappropriate tactic based on a miscalculation that the government would fall from a boycott, and criticized these parties for continuing to take positions which "hinder every effort to resolve a consensual peaceful solution to the crisis, and encourage terrorist acts and calls for foreign intervention in all candour." The Party also criticized the process of forming the joint electoral list, which in the past included consultation between the parties in the NPF and had the Front's name instead of "National Unity List", but said that it expects the new parliament to be a tool for progress.

     A rival coalition called the Popular Front for Change and Liberation (PFCL) is led by Qadri Jamil, one of the drafters of the new constitution. Jamil was elected as an independent but leads the People's Will Party, the legal name of the National Committee for the Unity of Syrian Communists, formed after they were expelled from the CPS(B) under accusations of Trotskyism. The PFCL also includes a 1957 split of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party ("Intifada" or uprising), whose parent party is an NPF member, as well as independent legislators including some trade unionists. The PFLC appealed election results across Syria and has called for nullifying the vote. At the opening of the first session of the new parliament, Jamil rose to a point of order and led a walkout by the PFLC.

     Six parties aligned neither with the NPF or the PFCL ran 81 candidates but did not win any seats. 

(The above article is from the June 16-30, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)