Syria authorizes establishing Democratic Party

The Syrian government has authorized the establishment of the Syrian Democratic Party, to become the second licensed party under the new law in the country. The Parties' Affairs Committee headed by Syrian Minister of Interior Mohammad al-Sha'ar studied on Sunday the applications submitted to it by citizens willing to establish parties according to the Legislative Decree No. 100 for 2011. Minister al-Sha'ar indicated that the documents submitted by two parties, whose documents were published by the local newspapers, were also studied, adding that other documents related to these parties will be submitted later and they will be studied by the Committee during its next meeting in a step towards giving them a complete authorization, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported. He said that the documents of the Syrian Youths National Party and its rules of procedures were studied and all of its documents were accepted, and they will be published by the local newspapers for a week, and then the next stage will be the objection and it will be followed by granting it a complete authorization.  Minister al-Sha'ar pointed out that four other parties have submitted their documents and they were referred to the members of the Committee by its chairman to study them.  He added that during its meeting which was held few days ago, the Committee agreed on authorizing the Syrian Democratic Party to become the second licensed party according to the new Parties' Law after the Solidarity Party which has been recently authorized.  He affirmed that the Committee which holds its meeting every Sunday, is ready to held a meeting in case it receives the applications of citizens willing to establish new parties.  He added that over the past few days, the Committee has intensively studied the applications submitted to it and verified them to refer their documents to the publication and then to agree on establishing them if they meet the conditions set by the Parties' Law.