A new initiative has been launched to resolve the crisis in Syria by businessman and son of former long-serving defense minister, Mustafa Tlass, Al-Hayat reportedSunday.
The report said the initiative will be coordinated with a number of activists inside Syria to begin a path from war to politics in the country.
The initiative centers on the running of local council elections in all Syrian provinces. Representatives of the provinces will form a National council consisting of 250 members, each representing an average of 100,000 constituents. This council will have the authority of a constitutive parliament, with a mandate to prepare the constitution and common laws. Presidential and legislative elections will be held, based on the new constitution.
Meanwhile, locally elected councils will be responsible for administering the ground and at a local level, in coordination with international and state institutions, and the citizens.
Elections will be held in each province independently and under international supervision, under an agreement with major international powers and the regime.
Execution of this plan, the report said, depends on the agreement on the initiative between independent national figures not aligned with any political party, either from the regime or the opposition. These figures will be responsible fro communicating with the International envoy, the U.N. Secretary and foreign ministries of the countries involved with the Syria file. The initiative will be consolidated under an agreement by the international community, especially the U.S. and Russia, through a resolution by the Security Council under Chapter 6. Each country will exercise its influence over its allies in order to execute the initiative.
In accordance with the current constitution, the President will issue a decree to annul the current parliament and issue a decree to add a new article to the current constitution, under the chapter pertaining to transitional provisions. This article will include a mandate for the National Council and its departments.
The National Council will hold its first meeting within a week after elections, in the offices of the current parliament. It will decide upon its internal regulation mechanisms and prepare the new constitution and a new parties and elections law, within a period that does not exceed one year. After that a national referendum will be held on the new constitution.
Once the referendum is accepted, general elections will be held, according to the new constitution, and with observation by the international community.
The deadline for executing this roadmap is fifteen months; three months for the adoption of the initiative and to begin executing it, including the holding of elections, and one year to execute the new mandate of the National Council.
Translated by The Syrian Observer
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