The Syria Monitor

Reform Party Calls for Elections Boycott

The US-based Reform Party of Syria called on Syrians not to participate in the parliamentary elections this Sunday by not entering voting booths. (Arabic. AKI, 4/20/07).

The RPS's statement dubbed the booths, "the booths of humiliation," and called the elections a "mockery" and "another way for the Syrian regime to express its despotism and its cancellation of the people's opinion and their right to rule themselves in freedom and transparency."

The RPS said that the new parliament will be a mere clone of the current one which it dubbed "a puppet," adding that no real independents will make it into parliament except if they were "cronies of the Assad mafia."

RPS Activity in the US (11/6)

The Reform Party of Syria declared that it has intensified its contacts with the US administration the last couple of weeks. (Arabic. Elaph, 11/1/06). A statement by the Party said the purpose of the contacts was to stress the plight of the Syrian people and the hopes for democratization especially in light of the current chatter about possible shifts in US policy in the Middle East.

The statement expressed its concern regarding  coordination with the Iranian and Syrian regimes, as they are both enemies of democracy and freedom and "will not allow the success of any democratic experiment either in Iraq or Lebanon." It added that any democratic leadership that believes that a deal is viable with such regimes is deluding itself, as such a deal would only empower these regimes to fight freedom in the region.

The statement described any such policy as against the interests of the US and the people of the Middle East.

Reform Party Activity (6/27)

Farid Ghadry, president of the US-based Reform Party of Syria (RPS), testified on June 7 before the House Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia.

In his testimony, which was posted on the RPS blog, Ghadry said that he "do[es] not believe that the Syrian opposition is mature enough to assume power in Syria," and that the RPS' "short term aim, as such, is to give up on the issue of regime change in Syria until the opposition unites."

Ghadry went on to accuse other opposition parties of behaving "like the Ba'athists ruling the country with a set of exclusionary policies, which are in conflict with real democracy." He applied this characterization to the Damascus Declaration groups, which he dubbed "non-existent," as well as to the National Salvation Front, which he described as an "unholy alliance."

He also mentioned prominent detained dissidents to "honor their work and lend them our full support," and called for the release of all political prisoners. He then said that the Kurdish movement inside Syria was "mature" and that the Syrian Democratic Coalition, a coalition of liberal organizations including the RPS, claims a rising popularity inside and outside Syria because it "has no history of corruption or atrocities against the Syrian people." He recommended the US and Europe "invite the 10 most prominent Syrian opposition leaders in the hope that they can unite and become a viable alternative."

Ghadry then posted a letter to  the chair of the Subcomitte, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, in which he asked a further amendment of the Syria Accountability and Lebanon Sovereignty Act (SALSA) to "prevent the US administration from supporting any present or past regime officials that participated in major decisions as Ba'ath Party Officials, and who were, or still are, involved in corruption," a clear reference to former VP Abdel Halim Khaddam, whom Ghadry called in his testimony "the ultimate corrupt official."

Ghadry made several policy recommendations and suggested amendments to SALSA to include forcing the Syrian regime to lift emergency laws, and rescind Article 8 of the Syrian consitution, which states that the Ba'ath party is the leader of the state and society.

Then on June 17 Ghadry met with Vice President of the US, Dick Cheney, at an AEI World Forum conference in Colorado. According to an RPS press release, Ghadry "took the opportunity to convey to Vice President Cheney the situation and aspirations of Syria's growing democratic opposition. Mr. Ghadry urged the United States to increase its support for democracy and human rights in Syria, and stressed in particular the importance of vigorously defending these activists inside Syria who have recently been the target of a systematic and brutal crackdown by the Assad regime."