ITALY: Syria National Council re-elects Burhan Ghalioun as President

Record ID: 280835

  • Title: ITALY: Syria National Council re-elects Burhan Ghalioun as President
  • Date: 16th May 2012
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (MAY 15, 2012) (REUTERS) MEETING ROOM WHERE SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL IS HOLDING TALKS WITH OPEN DOOR LAPTOP COMPUTER SCREEN SEEN THROUGH OPEN DOOR VARIOUS OF MEMBERS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE MEETING ROOM SNC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER GEORGE SABRA AND OTHER MEMBERS SPEAKING TO FEMALE JOURNALIST OUTSIDE MEETING ROOM SABRA'S FACE MEMBERS IN MEETING ROOM SEEN THROU
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA170R4DKLHO16NWXR2CPUO15XJ
  • Story Text: The Syrian National Council (SNC) opposition group re-elected liberal politician Burhan Ghalioun as president at a meeting in Rome on Tuesday (May 15), his runner-up told Reuters.
    Ghalioun, a secular academic, has been leader of the opposition in exile since the SNC's creation in August 2011.
    Some fellow activists have criticised him for being out of touch with the opposition inside Syria and for failing to unify the SNC.
    But the 67-year-old has the backing of the Gulf States and France, and is seen as a consensus figure in the group, where Islamists, who are divided into different factions, hold sway. Aware that he is an acceptable figure to the international community, the Islamists have supported him.
    "Yes, this morning we had a meeting especially for the election, presidential election for SNC. Two candidates ran for this election, Mr. Ghalioun and I. The result was that Mr. Ghalioun won and he is now the new president for SNC for the coming three months," George Sabra, another liberal who is an ally of Syria's top dissident Riad al-Turk, said.
    Turk, an 81-year-old former leftist who spent 25 years as a political prisoner, operates underground inside Syria. The opposition looks to him for moral guidance.
    The SNC members have been in Rome since Saturday (May 12) to discuss leadership and structural changes.
    The talks are expected to end later on Tuesday, Sabra said.
    "We have to discuss more than that, the reform of the SNC. We have a plan and we have to discuss in some details this plan in this meeting and the secretary general of the SNC should approve this plan and the security bureau can exclude what they decide," he said.
    According to a source at the meeting, Ghalioun won 66 percent of the vote.
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