| President of the Syrian Arab Republic ? ? ? | |
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| Style | His Excellency |
| Residence | People's Palace and Tishreen Palace, Damascus |
| Term length | Seven years, renewable once[1] |
| Inaugural holder | Subhi Barakat (French Mandate) Shukri al-Quwatli (current constitution) |
| Formation | 17 April 1946 |
| Deputy | Vice President of Syria |
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The president of Syria, officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, is the head of state of the Syrian Arab Republic. He is vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at his sole discretion, to his vice presidents. He appoints and dismisses the prime minister and other members of the Council of Ministers (the cabinet) and military officers.[2]
Bashar al-Assad is the 20th and current president of Syria. Bashar is the son of former president, Hafez al-Assad, who was the longest-serving president serving 29 years. Bashar is currently the second longest-serving president marking the 20th year of his presidency when he entered the post on 17 July 2000.
Term of office
According to article 88 of the 2012 Syrian constitution, term limits of office for the president is seven years with a maximum of one re-election.[3]
Eligibility criteria
According to articles 84 and 85 of the Syrian Constitution, the candidate for the office of President of the Republic must:
- Acquire the support of at least 35 members of the People's Assembly
- Be above the age of 34 (as of a new law)
- Have lived continuously in Syria for 10 years before the election
- Be Syrian by birth, of parents who are Syrians by birth
- Not be married to a non-Syrian spouse
Also, the Constitution states that "The religion of the President of the Republic is Islam".[4]
On 31 January 1973, Hafez al-Assad implemented the new Constitution, which led to a national crisis. Unlike previous constitutions, this one did not require that the president of Syria must be a Muslim, leading to fierce demonstrations in Hama, Homs and Aleppo organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and the ulama. They labeled Assad as the "enemy of God" and called for a jihad against his rule.[5]Robert D. Kaplan has compared Assad's coming to power to "an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia--an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries."[6]
Powers
Apart from executive authority relating to a wide range of governmental functions including foreign affairs, the president has the right to dissolve the People's Council, in which case a new council must be elected within ninety days from the date of dissolution.
List of presidents
Latest election
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bashar al-Assad | Ba'ath Party | 10,319,723 | 88.7 | |||
| Hassan al-Nouri | NIACS | 500,279 | 4.3 | |||
| Maher Hajjar | Independent | 372,301 | 3.2 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 442,108 | 3.8 | ||||
| Total | 11,634,412 | 100 | ||||
| Registered votes/turnout | 15,845,575 | 73.42 | ||||
| Source: SANA, SANA | ||||||
References
- ^ Article 88 of the Syrian Constitution
- ^ "Syria - The President and the Cabinet".
- ^ "Qordoba - Translation of the Syrian Constitution Modifications 15-2-2012 | Citizenship | Presidents Of The United States". Scribd. Retrieved .
- ^ "Constitution of the Syrian Arabic Republic - Syrian Arab News Agency". sana.sy. Retrieved .
- ^ Alianak 2007, p. 55.
- ^ Kaplan, Robert (February 1993). "Syria: Identity Crisis". The Atlantic.
External links
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