ABSTRACT
In common with Egypt and Iraq, Syria maintained a strong presidential political system: in 1991 Ḥāfiẓ al-Asad was re-elected president for a further seven-year period with a vote of 99.9 per cent. He also remained secretary-general of the Ba‛th Party and commander-in-chief. No other institutions emerged as strong challengers to the presidency, and the Ba‛th Party, although it remained the dominant party from the ranks of which came most state functionaries, resembled (with its 800,000 members) a mass rally rather than an effective policy-making institution. Changes in the people’s assembly were interesting rather than significant. In the elections of 1990 (when the assembly was increased to 250 seats) one-third of the seats was reserved for independents and the representation of the Ba‛th was reduced from 66 per cent in 1986 to 54 per cent, although with the support of its allies in the National Progressive Front it retained a very comfortable majority. However, as the independents were all presidential supporters, this circumstance reflected only a slight decline in the eminence of the Ba‛th and not the creation of an alternative, let alone an opposition to the regime. The more interesting feature was the character of those elected: the Ba‛thists were generally from the bureaucracy, the party organization and the public sector, whereas the independents were noticeably non-governmental in origin and included businessmen, members of the professions, tribal leaders and religious figures. The elections of 1994 produced an almost identical result. This development underlined a notable feature of Syria’s evolution since the late 1980s, namely the move back from a closely state-controlled economy towards a freer economic system.
