Talks for drafting a new Syrian Constitution to resume today
The Syrian Constitutional Committee (SCC) will today resume talks on drafting a new constitution.
Since August, the three constituents of the SCC—the oppositional Syrian Negotiations Committee, civil society and government representatives—have failed to agree on preliminary constitutional principles. The delay is partly due to attempts by Moscow and Damascus to capture territory in an effort to strengthen the regime’s negotiating position. The regime also seeks to postpone constitutional talks until after the upcoming presidential elections between April and May in order to evade a possible UN-supervised vote and further bolster its authority.
Yet, even if the SCC overcomes these short-to-medium term challenges, one problem likely to hinder it from bringing about a permanent ceasefire and political solution is its failure to include all actors in the Syrian conflict. The SCC excludes the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which maintains control of large portions of north and east Syria. Due to its partnership with the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the PYD poses an imminent threat to Turkey and has been excluded from the political process. However, unless all major players in the Syrian conflict are brought to the negotiating table, the political process will likely spill over into the battleground in the long-run.
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