Communist Parties win 11 Seats in Syrian Parliamentary Elections
MRZine June 18, 2012
(Published
with edits in People's Voice June 16-30, 2012)
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 8 (3 from category A), an
increase of 3 from the previous parliament, while the Communist Party
of Syria (Faisal AKA Unified) elected 3 representatives, reporting
that its candidates’ individual votes amounted to 13% of the total,
with the most popular candidate winning 300,000 votes. Voters voted
for individual candidates but were provided with a list at the
polling station called 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 8 other parties. 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 (F-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 it said limited the turnout. The CPS(F-U) criticized
some parties for boycotting the election, saying that it was an
inappropriate tactic based on a miscalculation that the government
would fall from the 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 to the NPF called the Popular Front for Change and
Liberation (PFCL) is lead by Qadri Jamil who was one of the drafters
of the new constitution. Jamil was elected as an independent but
leads the People's Will Party (also the name of a 19th century
Russian terrorist organization), which is 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 lead a
walkout/boycott by the PFLC.
Six
parties in neither the NPF or the PFCL ran 81 candidates but did not
win any seats.
The
first Communist to be elected in an Arab parliament was Khalid
Bagdash in 1954, a Kurd who was a delegate to the Communist
International (Comintern). During World War II Bagdash lead the
national resistance against the Vichy French occupation of Syria.
While many Communist Parties experienced splits in the 1989-1991
period of counter-revolutions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe,
uniquely this division happened much earlier in Syria. In 1986
Bagdash, who was the leader of the Communist Party, criticized
Gorbachev’s policies and what they meant for socialism including in
Syria, and subsequently lead a split from the Party as the majority
of the Central Committee under Yusuf Faisal agreed with Gorbachev's
policies.