Damascus: the second phase of Baath party elections starts today

The second phase of preliminary elections for the 9th regional conference of the Baath Arab socialist party which will be held on June 17 started today.

Some 24703 persons are competing in the Baath party branches for 650 seats dedicated for the elected Baath party members to the conference in which will take part some 950 members who are eligible to be candidate and to vote whereas the remaining 300 seats go to other Baathists, members in the Baath party regional leadership, the central command of the Party leadership, members of the Baath Party inspection and audition committee and the representatives of the army and armed forces who are nominated by their branches to the conference.

Observers indicate that the final elections in the conference will lead to renewing almost half of the members of the Party's regional leadership so as to have the " new generation and the old generations" mingled together in the higher political commission.

Noteworthy, two seats are empty in the Baath party regional leaderships" the first seat was used to be occupied by Rifaat al-Assad who was " expelled" from the Baath Party and exempted from his post as a vice president by the beginning of 1998. The second seat was used to be occupied by the former prime minister Mahmoud al-Zou'bi who was also " expelled" from the Baath party and brought before the court under charges of " misusing his post."