Syria approves new constitution
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 28, 2012
Syria's Interior Minister Mohammad Chaar announced on Monday that?over 89 percent of voters supported?the new draft constitution.
![Syria's Interior Minister Mohammad Chaar annouces the result of the referendum for a new draft constitution on Sunday in Damascus. [Xinhua Photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120228/001ec949c22b10b664ad01.jpg "Syria's Interior Minister Mohammad Chaar annouces the result of the referendum for a new draft constitution on Sunday in Damascus. [Xinhua Photo]") |
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Syria's Interior Minister Mohammad Chaar annouces the result of the referendum for a new draft constitution on?Monday in Damascus. [Xinhua Photo] |
Chaar told a press conference that a total of 8,376,447 citizens, or 57.4 percent of eligible voters, voted in the referendum on the new draft constitution, with 7,490,319 of them agreeing to it and 753,208 saying "no".
There are 132,920 invalid ballots, which makes up 1.6 percent of the votes, Chaar said.
Chaar said that there was a good turnout, despite threats by some armed terrorist groups in certain areas and distortion and instigation campaigns by external media, which attempted to prevent citizens from practicing their right for voting and to harm the democratic process.
The referendum started early on Sunday morning, and more than 14 million Syrians were eligible to vote at 13,835 ballot centers across the country.
The draft constitution aims to restore stability in the unrest-hit country and gives a president a limit of two seven-year terms.
Under the new draft constitution, President Bashar al-Assad will end his two seven-year terms in 2014 at the latest and his family's more than 40 years of rule of the country.
It is also expected to allow Syrian citizens to enjoy more freedom, end the monopoly of power of Assad's Baath Party and set a timetable for multi-party elections.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said that the new draft constitution would transit Syria to a new phase, stressing that "this is a historical day in the lives of Syrians".
However the result was met with skepticism of the Syrian opposition, which dismissed it as "unreal and totally fabricated."
Abdulaziz Khaier, a member of the opposing National Coordination Body, said he had predicted these results even before Chaar's announcement, "because we have become accustomed to such games in Syria."
"I can say for sure that these numbers have nothing to do with the reality and are totally fabricated,"? Khaier told Xinhua on Monday.
