took power in 1970. After his death in 2000 his son, Bashar al-Assad, succeeded him as President. A surge of interest in political reform took place after Bashar al-Assad assumed power in 2000. Human-rights activists and other civil-society advocates, as well as some parliamentarians, became more outspoken during a period referred to as the "Damascus Spring". Assad also made a series of appointments of reform-minded advisors to formal and less formal positions and is included a number of similarly oriented individuals in his Cabinet.
Neo-Ba'athism
The Ba'ath platform is proclaimed succinctly in the party's slogan: "Unity, freedom, and socialism." The party is both socialist, advocating state ownership of the means of industrial production and the redistribution of agricultural land, and revolutionary, dedicated to carrying a pan-Arab revolution to every part of the Arab world. Founded by Michel Aflaq, a Syrian Christian, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, a Syrian Sunni, and Zaki al-Arsuzi, an alawite, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, which was dissolved in 1966 following the 1966 Syrian coup d'état which led to the establishment of one Iraqi-dominated ba'ath movement and one Syrian-led ba'ath movement. The party embraces secularism and has attracted supporters of all faiths in many Arab countries, especially Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon. Since August 1990, however, the party has tended to downplay its socialism and to stress pan-Arab unity. Six smaller political parties are permitted to exist and, along with the Ba'ath Party, make up the National Progressive Front, a grouping of parties that represents the sole framework of legal political party participation for citizens. While created ostensibly to give the appearance of a multi-party system, the NPF is dominated by the Ba'ath Party and does not change the essentially one-party character of the political system. Non-Ba'ath Party members of the NPF exist as political parties largely in name only and conform strictly to Ba'ath Party and government policies. There were reports in 2000 that the government was considering legislation to expand the NPF to include new parties and several parties previously banned; these changes have not taken place. However, one such party- the Syrian Social Nationalist Party- was legalised in 2005. Traditionally, the parties of the NPF accepted the socialist and Arab nationalist ideology of the government. However, the SSNP was the first party that is neither socialist nor Arab nationalist in orientation to be legalised and admitted to the NPF. This has given rise to suggestions that broader ideological perspectives may be afforded some degree of toleration in the future, but ethnically-based parties continue to be repressed and a strict ban on religious parties is still enforced. Syria's Emergency Law was in force from 1963, when the Ba'ath Party came to power, until 21 April 2011 when it was rescinded by Bashar al-Assad. The law, justified on the grounds of the continuing war with Israel and the threats posed by terrorists, suspended most constitutional protections.
Government administration
Leadership in Damascus:
Legislative branch
The People's Council has 250 members elected for a four-year term in 15 multi-seat constituencies. According to the previous Syrian constitution of 1973 Syria was a one-party state and only one political party, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was legally allowed to hold effective power. Of the 250 seats in the council, 167 were guaranteed for the National Progressive Front and 134 of these were members of the Ba'ath Party. The minor parties in the Progressive Front, were legally required to accept the leadership of the Ba'ath Party. The other parties in the Progressive Front, for example, are not allowed to canvass for supporters in the army or the student body which are "reserved exclusively for the Ba'ath." The new Syrian constitution of 2012 introduced multi-party system without guaranteed leadership of any political party.
Political parties and elections
The last parliamentary election was on 7 May 2012 and the results were announced on 15 May. The Baath party won an even larger victory than it did in previous elections. They won a majority of around 60% of the 250 parliamentary seats. Previously, the Baath had a majority of just over 50% of the seats in parliament. If one adds in the independent MPs aligned with the Baath Party, the MPs who support the president make up over 90% of the seats in new parliament. The National Unity List, which is dominated by the Syrian Baath Party, won more than 150 seats in the 250 member parliament. Independent individuals won more than 90 seats. Among the newly established opposition parties, only one single seat was won, namely a seat in Aleppo won by the Syrian Democratic Party, Ahmad Koussa. In addition three representatives of longstanding opposition parties have been elected to Parliament: Qadri Jamil and Ali Haydar from the Front for Change and Liberation, and Amro Osi from the Initiative of Syrian Kurds. '''Summary of the 7 May 2012 People's Council of Syriaelection results !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top|Parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats inside
