BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday ordered a referendum to be held Feb. 26 on a new constitution, a move that appeared unlikely to defuse the country’s rapidly escalating crisis.
The document allows multiple political parties to compete in elections for the legislature, sets a limit of two seven-year terms on the president and eliminates a clause that guarantees political supremacy to Assad’s Baath Party, according to copies of the draft circulating in the Syrian press.
The Free Syrian Army is battling government forces in Homs. The United Nations says 5,400 people have died in Syria since the the uprising against President Bashar Assad began. (Feb. 15)
But it also gives sweeping powers to the president to decree laws, appoint the government and dissolve parliament, and seemed designed to ensure that the current system remains largely intact. With most members of the opposition calling for the ouster of the Assad regime, activists said the document falls far short of their demands for radical change.
“It’s a non-starter,” said Shakeeb al-Jabri, a pro-democracy activist who is based in Beirut. “It’s incredibly weak. The powers it gives to people are limited. It confirms our fears that there will be no true reform under Assad, only cosmetic reforms.”
The announcement comes amid a major offensive launched by Syrian security forces to quell the country’s 11-month-old revolt, in which more than 5,400 people have been killed, according to the United Nations. Hundreds have reportedly died in this latest assault, many of them in the besieged neighborhood of Bab Amr in the city of Homs, which has emerged as the epicenter of the increasingly armed revolt.
On Wednesday, security forces expanded the offensive to include the city of Hama, and attacks have also taken place in opposition strongholds in the northern province of Idlib, the eastern province of Deir el Zour and the southern province of Daraa. The human rights advocacy group Avaaz said it had documented 20 deaths in Wednesday’s attacks.
Activists also questioned how the government intended to hold a referendum at a time when violence is engulfing the country. “I’m not sure how people are supposed to go out and vote when their towns and cities are under bombardment,” Jabri said.
The intensity of this latest offensive, which began on the eve of a failed attempt by the United States and its allies to secure a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria, suggests the government may be hoping it can crush the uprising before Feb. 26. The resolution, which was intended to add weight to an Arab League proposal for Assad to surrender power, was vetoed by Russia and China.
Russia has since thrown its full support behind Assad’s reform program, which had been promised since the start of the uprising nearly a year ago. In a speech in January, Assad pledged to hold a referendum in February, and on Wednesday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the move as “better late than never.”
“Of course, we believe that the adoption of a new constitution in Syria is a step forward toward political pluralism," Lavrov said after talks with his Dutch counterpart, Uri Rosenthal, in The Hague.
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