SYRIA/ITALY: Popular Front for Change and Liberation calls for scrapping of May 7 election results, saying electoral system needs fixing. Meanwhile, the exiled Syrian National Council (SNC) debates whether or not to re-elect President Burhan Ghalioun

Record ID: 276368

  • Title: SYRIA/ITALY: Popular Front for Change and Liberation calls for scrapping of May 7 election results, saying electoral system needs fixing. Meanwhile, the exiled Syrian National Council (SNC) debates whether or not to re-elect President Burhan Ghalioun
  • Date: 13th May 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (MAY 12, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF QADRI JAMIL, HEAD OF THE POPULAR FRONT FOR CHANGE AND LIBERATION, ARRIVING VARIOUS OF A MEMBER OF THE FRONT READING THE STATEMENT AUDIENCE APPLAUDING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) QADRI JAMIL, HEAD OF THE POPULAR FRONT FOR CHANGE AND LIBERATION, SAYING: "The presidency of the Popular Front sees that the country's benefit, at
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic, Italy
  • City:
  • Country: Syrian Arab Republic Italy
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAANS8R08ZOC9GBOTQDDAUBORM5
  • Story Text: Syria's opposition Popular Front for Change and Liberation called on Saturday (May 12) for the results from Monday's (May 7) election to be annulled, calling the electoral system "broken".
    "The presidency of the Popular Front sees that the country's benefit, at this historical moment, requires the cancellation of the elections' results immediately," said Qadri Jamil, Head of the Popular Front for Change and Liberation.
    He added: "We found that the electoral system is broken for the real political life and is unfixable. We tried to fix it but it is unfixable. It needs to be changed immediately."
    Jameel, who took part with his front in the parliament elections, said there were many pressures and violations that the candidates of his front will present to the concerned juridical authority.
    The Popular Front for Change and Liberation is formed, among others, mainly of former members of the Communist Party in Syria and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.
    The Front considers itself to be in the opposition, but it disagrees with other opposition movements inside and outside Syria.
    The Front said it supports dialogue between the opposition and Syrian government to resolve the crisis and strongly oppose foreign military intervention.
    Members of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), meanwhile, were in heated discussions over whether or not to re-elect President Burhan Ghalioun. They will make a decision in the next three days, two members of the 11-member executive council said on Saturday.
    The opposition members are gathered in Rome for three days of discussions over leadership and structural changes.
    Members Samir Nashar and George Sabra said that the executive branch will be seriously debating debating candidates to replace Ghalioun, who has led the SNC since it was established in August 2011 but has been berated for being late in supporting the armed opposition and for being out of touch with the opposition inside Syria.
    "Our stance is the same as three months ago; we are against an extension or a renewal of Burhan Ghalioun's term. We are in favour of transition because it gives all the various Syrian political components a chance in the leading post. This post will not depend on individuals, its foundations are in team-work," said Nashar, speaking on behalf of a the Damascus Declaration, a smaller opposition group which is part of the SNC.
    "For me personally, George Sabra is my favourite candidate, for many reasons, mainly because he is an opposition member from inside Syria. He is committed to the revolution," said Nashar, who left Syria after he was arrested in the northern city of Aleppo in 2006.
    There is talk among the opposition that Sabra, a Christian, will send a clear message to minority sects in Syria that their rights will be respected in a largely Sunni Muslim uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, himself a member of the minority Alawite sect.
    Assad's supporters say that minority Alawites, Christians and Druze would be at risk of discrimination in a post-Assad Syria and accuse the SNC of being run by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, who have become the dominant force of the exile opposition in the 14-month-old revolt against Assad.
    "The SNC wants to send a clear message to all components of the Syrian community; Alawite, Christians, Druze and all the minorities, that the SNC is not a council for Muslims only as the regime seeks to portray it. The SNC is for all Syrians, including the Muslims, but there are also Christians, Alawite and the Druze," Nashar said.
    Sabra said the leadership faced tough challenges, starting from structural reforms of the SNC.
    "We need so many things to be changed. First of all to reform the SNC. We have a plan, we have a committee, that did something good in this way but we have to reach the end of this operation. Second, we have also to change the way decisions is made between people, between the establishments of the SNC, between the components of the SNC," he said.
    The meeting in Rome comes after reports that Syrian forces foiled an attempted suicide car bombing in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday (May 11), a day after two bombs in the capital Damascus killed at least 55 people.
    The blasts further undermined a tattered ceasefire agreement repeatedly violated by the army and rebels since it was brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan four weeks ago. The deal has been overseen by nearly 150 unarmed U.N. observers in Syria.
    The SNC said in a statement on Friday that Annan's peace plan had been "dead from the start" because state authorities had not respected the ceasefire, and called for foreign intervention to protect civilians.
    However, Sabra said the SNC hoped to see Annan's plan succeeding.
    "Right now we don't want to see this agreement failing. But we have to raise the truth, that nothing real happened. So we will put the responsibility in front of the Security Council and Mr. Annan himself to discover the truth and to announce it and to push the Security Council for the next step," Sabra said.
    There was no claim of responsibility for the Damascus bombings. Syrian authorities blamed foreign-backed terrorists. Opposition activists denied any involvement. Some analysts have speculated that recent bombings could be the work of al Qaeda-linked Islamists with skills honed by years of activity in Iraq.
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