 Syria's ruling Baath party has re-elected President Bashar al-Assad as its secretary general and recommended revising a 42-year-old state of emergency, a minister announced. The Baath party, in power since 1963, on Thursday adopted "the principle of a social market economy" and decided to reform the public sector while supporting the private sector, state television said.
| Ummm... Yeah. That'll work, I'm sure... |
It said the congress, the first for five years, pledged to press ahead with the country's "economic, social and administrative reforms". Baath delegates also elected a new national leadership including many new faces close to the president while veteran figures got the boot made their exit. The party congress, which ended Thursday, adopted a recommendation to "revise the emergency law and limit its application to crimes that threaten state security," Bussaina Shaaban, Syria's emigrants' minister, told a news conference. |