Syrian president issues local administration law

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued Tuesday the law of the local administration, providing for the decentralization of authority and concentrating power and responsibilities in the hands of the public, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported. The law is the second in 24 hours as the president has issued Monday a decree providing for the formation of a multi-party committee that will be entrusted with the authority to give the final say on applications to form parties or amend their internal systems. Al-Assad proposed the controversial multi-party law earlier this month as part of reform measures aiming to meet the protesters' demands for broader freedom and democracy in the country. The two laws came after a televised interview al-Assad made on Sunday with the state-run Syrian TV, during which he pledged to hold the parliamentary elections in February and voiced confidence in his government in dealing with the unrest. Syria has been in unrest since mid-March when anti-government protests broke out in the southern province of Daraa and spread to other cities. To quell the unprecedented anti-government crisis in the country, al-Assad recently introduced a package of new measures to ease up the government's restraints on politics and economy, including lifting the controversial state of emergency imposed in the county for around 50 years and granting general amnesty. The Syrian authorities blamed the unrest on "armed groups and foreign conspiracy," and stressed that it would track down gunmen who have intimidated people and damaged public and private properties.