Syrian parliament approves Bashar for President

Syrian parliament approves Bashar for President
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

DAMASCUS, JUNE 28: Syria's parliament has approved by acclamation Bashar al-Assad's candidacy to succeed his late father as the country's President, but state radio said the political road ahead will not be easy for Bashar.

In a commentary following the parliamentary vote yesterday, the radio said his "path will not be strewn with flowers. There are difficult tasks awaiting" Bashar, the radio said.

He will need to "redouble efforts to free the Golan (which as captured from Syria by Israel in 1967), recover all of Syria's rights and establish a just and durable peace that eliminates all forms of (Israeli) occupation of Arab lands," it said.

Yesterday, though, Bashar was the centre of adulation.

All 250 MPs stood and clapped their hands to show their approval of the ruling Baath party's nomination of Bashar, 34, for the top job after parliamentary Speaker Abdel Qader Qaddura called for a vote.

Qaddura then read out the formal resolution required to be put to a popular vote.

"The People's Assembly, in a historic session today, accepted unanimously the decision of the leadership of the Arab Socialist Baath party to propose Bashar al-Assad, secretary general of the party, for a seven-year presidential mandate," he said.

Qaddura fixed July 10 as the date for a national plebiscite, the final stage in Bashar's rise to the top following his father Hafez al-Assad's death on June 10.