Appendix 2: The Internal Rules of the People's Party

Article 1: A political party named (the People's Party) is founded in Syria.

Article 2: To achieve the aims set out in its basic program, the party follows internal rules resting on the following formations:

First: the members.

Second: the circles.

Third: the sections.

Fourth: the branches.

Fifth: the Executive Body.

1. Members

Joining

Article 3: Every Syrian who has completed his eighteenth year may join the party, provided he is of good character, has not been convicted of an ordinary felony or a dishonorable misdemeanor, and believes in the party's principles.

Article 4: The applicant submits an application to the bureau of the section where he lives, and the application must be supported by at least two members.

Article 5: The section bureau decides on the application within fifteen days at most, and once that period has passed, failure to decide on the application counts as a rejection.

Article 6: The decision to accept or reject gives no reasons, and the section bureau votes on it by an absolute majority of its members.

Article 7: A rejection is not final: the applicant may renew his application six months after submitting it, and a second rejection is final.

Duties of the Member

Article 8: Every member takes the following oath:

(I swear by God and pledge on my honor to respect the principles and rules of the People's Party, to work to achieve its aims, to abide by its decisions, to keep its secrets and not to join any other political body).

Article 9: Paying the joining fee and the set monthly subscriptions.

Article 10: Breaking off all ties with any other political body.

Article 11: Not entering the cabinet or accepting any mission, or any political post or administrative post of a political character, or membership of any local council or of the boards of foreign companies, or of clubs or societies of a political or foreign character, except by decision of the competent authority.

Rights of the Members

Article 12: The members of the party are equal in rights.

Article 13: Every member may elect and be elected within the following limits:

A. He takes part in the election of circle representatives six months after joining.

B. He may be elected as a representative of his circle, or to the bureau of the section or the branch, one year after joining.

Article 14: The member carries a party card bearing his photograph, his full identity and the date he joined the party, stamped with the party's seal and signed by the head of the branch or the secretary of the section.

Article 15: The member may put to the circle delegate any proposals he considers necessary for the party's prosperity and growth.

2. The Circles

Article 16: The circle is the body of party members registered in an electoral district or living in that district.

Article 17: A circle is formed when the number of party members in the district reaches /25/ members.

Article 18: Every member must enroll in the circle of his district, and if that circle has not yet been formed, he registers directly with his section until the circle is fully formed.

Meetings of the Circles

Article 19: The circle meets once a month on dates set by the section bureau, which it communicates to the circle by the fifteenth of January at the latest.

Article 20: At its first annual meeting the circle elects three representatives by secret ballot, and the section bureau chooses one of them as delegate of the circle.

Article 21: Circle meetings are valid if a quarter of the members enrolled in it attend, and if there is no quorum the meeting is postponed by one day, and the meeting is then valid whatever the number of members.

Article 22: The circle meets at the house of one of its members or at the section's premises, if the section secretary agrees.

Article 23: The circle delegate may call his circle to an extraordinary meeting on his own initiative or at the request of the section bureau; in the first case he must inform the section secretary before sending out the call and explain to him the reasons for the meeting.

Article 24: The circle delegate is answerable for it to the section bureau, and it is he who conveys to its members the bureau's directives and decisions; the section secretary may charge him with collecting the monthly subscriptions from the members of his circle.

3. The Section

Article 25: The section is the body of party members in a district, and the center of the province counts as a district.

Article 26: The section may take a second premises, paid for from its budget, with the approval of the branch bureau.

Article 27: A section must be formed when the number of party members in a district reaches /50/.

Article 28: The work of the section is run by two bodies:

A. The general body of the section.

B. The section bureau.

A. The General Body of the Section

Article 29: The general body of the section is made up of all the circle representatives, plus one delegate for every additional hundred members in a circle.

Article 30: The party's deputies for the districts and the province are members of the general body by right.

Meetings of the General Body

Article 31: The general body of the section meets once every two months, or at the call of the section secretary, addressed to the members and delivered to them five days before the date of the meeting.

Article 32: The dates of the regular meetings are set each year by a decision of the section bureau, taken before the fifteenth of January and subject to the approval of the branch bureau.

Article 33: These dates are posted at the section bureau for a full month and communicated to the circle delegates.

Article 34: The meeting is valid if a third of the members attend, and if there is no quorum the meeting is postponed by three days and its date communicated to the circle representatives, and the meeting is valid the second time whatever the number of members.

Article 35: Decisions are taken by relative majority at a valid meeting, unless there is a provision to the contrary in these rules.

Functions of the General Body of the Section

Article 36: The general body of the section oversees the party's policy in its area and directs it within the general instructions laid down by the branch bureau.

Article 37: The general body of the section submits to the branch bureau, after discussing and approving them, the proposals it considers necessary for the party's prosperity and growth, especially those concerning the organizations and formations it considers should be set up in that area, and the decision does not take effect until the branch bureau approves it.

B. The Section Bureau

Article 41: The section bureau consists of at least five and at most nine members. This increase is decided when the number of members belonging to the section exceeds three thousand, at the rate of one member for every additional thousand.

Article 42: When the section bureau has been elected, its members meet and elect three of their number. The branch bureau names from among them the controller, the secretary and the treasurer of the section.

Article 43: The bureau's term is two years, with half its members elected afresh each year, and once the election of the members whose membership has lapsed has been held, it meets and chooses its three officers again in accordance with Article 42 above. If the number of bureau members is odd, the smaller half lose their membership in the first year and the larger half in the following year. One year after the election of the first section bureau, the members who won the fewest votes lose their membership.

Functions and Powers of the Section Bureau

Article 44: It is the section bureau that:

A. Oversees the carrying out of the party's general policy within the directives of the branch bureau. It also carries out the decisions of the general body of the section in its area.

B. Sets the dates of the regular circle meetings and submits them to the branch bureau for its approval.

C. Draws up the section's annual budget and sends it to the branch bureau for study after it has been approved by the general body of the section.

D. Approves the admission of members in its area.

E. Oversees the party formations existing in its area and submits to the branch bureau the proposals it considers necessary for the party's prosperity and growth.

F. Prepares the agenda of the general body of the section and submits it to the branch bureau for its approval.

G. Gives approval in principle to the nomination of members of its section for administrative or political posts, for membership of company boards or of local councils in the area.

Duties of the Officers

Article 45: The section controller represents the section in its area, chairs its sessions, signs its outward correspondence and chooses from the bureau members someone to deputize for him in his absence.

Article 46: The section secretary runs the work of the section bureau, oversees the section's internal organization and signs its internal correspondence.

Article 47: The treasurer oversees collection and spending in his section, within the approved budget.

Meetings of the Bureau

Article 48: The section bureau holds a regular meeting on the first and the sixteenth of each month, or at the call of the section secretary if need be, or if at least two of its members ask him to, stating the reason for the request.

Article 49: Meetings of the bureau are valid if the required majority attends, and if that majority is not present the meeting is postponed for /24/ hours, after which the meeting is valid if two out of five members, or three if there are more than five, are present. Decisions are taken by relative majority at a valid meeting, unless these rules contain a provision to the contrary.

4. The Branch

Article 50: The branch is the party area that takes in all the sections in a province, and the center of the branch is the center of the province.

If there are no party formations in the center of the province, the center of the branch is in the district with the most members.

Article 51: A branch must be formed when the number of members in the province reaches at least 50.

Article 52: The work of the branch is run by two bodies:

A. The branch council.

B. The party's branch bureau.

A. The Branch Council

Article 53: The branch council is made up of all the bureaus of the sections that belong to the branch.

Article 54: The branch council holds a regular meeting every three months and meets in extraordinary session at the call of the head of the branch or at the request of five council members giving the reason for the meeting, provided the call reaches the council members five days before the date of the meeting.

Article 55: The meeting is valid if an absolute majority of the members attend. If there is no quorum the meeting is postponed by one week and the section bureaus informed, and the meeting is then valid whatever the number of members.

Article 56: The council's decisions are taken by relative majority at a valid meeting, unless these rules contain a provision to the contrary.

Functions and Powers of the Branch Council

Article 57: The council oversees the party's general policy in its province within the directives of the General Congress.

Article 58: The council approves the general budget of the branch and ratifies the expenditure of the past year.

Article 59: The branch council approves the formations and organizations the branch bureau wishes to set up in the area.

Article 60: At its meetings the council studies what is set on the agenda. However, five council members, or any section bureau, may ask for a proposal to be put on the agenda, provided the request is sent to the branch bureau at least one month beforehand.

Article 61: At its first annual meeting the council elects the head of the branch by secret ballot, and elects the remaining bureau members in place of those whose membership has lapsed.

B. The Branch Bureau

Article 62: The branch bureau consists of at least seven and at most eleven members, any increase to be decided by the branch council on the proposal of its bureau and with the approval of the party's Executive Bureau.

Article 63: The bureau's term is two years, with half its members elected afresh each year. If the number of bureau members is odd, the smaller half lose their membership in the first year and the larger half in the following year, and one year after the election of the first branch bureau, the members who won the fewest votes lose their membership.

Article 64: A member's membership lapses automatically if he ceases to be a member of the bureau of the section to which he belongs.

Article 65: Each year, after it has been renewed, the bureau meets and elects by secret ballot a secretary of the branch, a controller, an accountant and a treasurer.

Meetings and Powers of the Branch Bureau

Article 66: The bureau holds a regular meeting every month and meets in extraordinary session at the call of the head of the branch or at the request of three bureau members stating the reason. The meeting is valid if an absolute majority of the members attend; otherwise it is postponed by three days, and the meeting is then valid if three out of seven members, or four if there are more than seven, are present. Decisions are taken by absolute majority, unless these rules contain a provision to the contrary.

Article 67: A. The bureau oversees the spreading of the party's principles and propaganda for them, the education of party members, the running of the party's work in the province and the carrying out of its council's decisions, and it studies and approves proposals concerning the party's formations in the section areas.

B. It ratifies the dates of the meetings of the circles, of the general bodies of the sections and of the section bureaus, and draws up the program of the branch council's meetings.

C. It draws up the branch budget and puts it before its council, and it ratifies the budgets of the sections that belong to it.

D. It names the controllers, secretaries and treasurers of the sections that belong to it.

E. It approves the nomination and acceptance of branch members for missions, for administrative posts of major political character and for posts of representation abroad of the second grade and above.

Article 68: The head of the branch represents the branch in the province, signs its outward correspondence and chairs its sessions, and he may delegate the secretary or the controller of the branch to act for him in this.

Article 69: The secretary of the branch oversees the branch's organization and internal administration, follows the carrying out of the bureau's decisions and signs the internal correspondence.

Article 70: The controller of the branch inspects the centers of the sections and the circles, checks their records and accounts, and submits his reports on them.

Article 71: The accountant of the branch audits the budgets of the sections, draws up the branch budget, keeps the account books and oversees collection.

Article 72: The treasurer is responsible for keeping and safeguarding the branch's funds.

Article 73: In provinces where no sections have been formed in the districts, the section of the center counts as a branch; its general body and its bureau enjoy all the powers granted to the branch council and its bureau, and it follows the branch structure in its organization. The branch council is then made up of the circle delegates only, without the other representatives.

5. The Executive Body

Article 74: The Executive Body is the party area that oversees all the branches, runs the party's work and directs its general policy.

Article 75: The work of the Executive Body is run by two bodies:

A. The General Congress.

B. The party's Executive Bureau.

A. The General Congress

Article 76: The General Congress is made up of all the branch bureaus, plus the party members who are deputies.

Meetings of the Congress

Article 77: The General Congress holds a regular meeting every six months and meets in extraordinary session at the call of the president of the party or at the request of ten members of the Congress giving the reason for the meeting. The call reaches the members of the Congress through the branch bureaus ten days before the date of the meeting.

Article 78: The program of the Congress is attached to the invitations, and nothing may be discussed that is not on the agenda.

Article 79: Five members of the Congress, or one of the branch bureaus, may ask for a proposal to be put on the agenda, provided the request is sent to the Executive Bureau at least one month before the date of the regular meeting.

Article 80: The meeting is valid if a majority of the members attend. If there is no quorum the meeting is postponed by one week and the branch bureaus informed, and the meeting is then valid whatever the number of members.

Article 81: Decisions are taken by relative majority at a valid meeting, unless these rules contain a provision to the contrary.

Functions and Powers of the Congress

Article 82: The Congress oversees the party's general policy, approves the general budget of the executive bodies, ratifies the expenditure of the past year and names the party's candidates for parliamentary elections.

Article 83: At its first annual meeting the Congress elects by secret ballot the president of the party, his deputy, the controller general and the secretary general, and elects the remaining members of the bureau in place of those whose membership has lapsed.

B. The Party's Executive Bureau

Article 84: The party's Executive Bureau consists of at least seven and at most eleven members, any increase to be decided by the General Congress at a valid meeting by a majority of two thirds of the members present.

Article 85: The Executive Bureau's term is two years, with half its members elected afresh each year. If the number of bureau members is odd, the smaller half lose their membership in the first year and the larger half in the following year, and one year after the election of the first Executive Bureau, the members who won the fewest votes lose their membership.

Article 86: A member's membership lapses automatically if he ceases to be a member of the bureau of the branch to which he belongs.

Article 87: Each year, after it has been renewed, the bureau meets and elects by secret ballot a treasurer and an accountant for the party.

Functions of the Executive Bureau

Article 88: The bureau holds a regular meeting every two months, and meets in extraordinary session at the call of the president of the party or at the request of four of its members giving the reason for the meeting. The meeting is valid if an absolute majority of the members attend; otherwise it is postponed by one week and the call sent out again, and the meeting is then valid if four members are present. Decisions are taken by absolute majority, unless there is a provision to the contrary.

Article 89: A. The Executive Bureau oversees the running of all the party's work, carries out the decisions of the General Congress, and spreads and promotes the party's principles.

B. It draws up the budget of the Executive Body and puts it before the General Congress for approval.

C. It approves the nomination and acceptance of party members for missions and senior posts of the second grade and above, and the acceptance by party members of seats on the boards of foreign companies and of clubs and societies of a political or foreign character.

D. Together with the parliamentary body, it approves the nomination for, and acceptance of, ministerial office.

Article 90: The president of the party represents the party, signs all its outward letters and correspondence, and chairs the sessions of the bureau and of the General Congress.

Article 91: The secretary general oversees the party's internal organization and administration and the carrying out of the Executive Bureau's decisions, and signs the internal correspondence.

Article 92: The party's controller oversees all the branches, submits his reports on them and checks their accounts.

Article 93: If the post of a bureau member falls vacant through death, resignation or expulsion, it is filled by the person who won the most votes after him.

Article 94: If a bureau member is absent four times in succession without a legitimate excuse, he is warned in writing and then considered to have resigned from the bureau.

6. The Parliamentary Body

Article 95: The parliamentary body is made up of the party's deputies.

Article 96: The parliamentary body follows in its policy in the Chamber of Deputies the plan it draws up with the Executive Bureau within the limits of the program; as for the internal affairs of the Chamber, such as its committees and its bureau, the parliamentary body decides the plan it wishes.

General Provisions

1. The Party's Finances

Article 97: The party is a legal person, with all the rights the law grants to legal persons.

Article 98: The party's finances consist of the joining fee, the members' monthly dues, contributions and gifts.

Article 99: Every party member pays a joining fee of at least five Syrian liras and monthly dues of at least one Syrian lira against an official receipt, and the section bureaus may decide to exempt some members from these fees.

Article 100: It is the section bureau that decides to accept or refuse contributions and gifts, and it submits this to the branch bureau for approval, and the branch bureau's decision is final and gives no reasons.

Article 101: The sections are financially independent, and each section has its own separate fund, but each section must contribute to the expenditure of the branch, just as the branch contributes to the expenditure of the Executive Bureau.

Article 102: The General Congress sets the share the branches contribute to the expenditure of the Executive Body, and the branch council sets the share the sections contribute to its own expenditure, provided this share does not exceed twenty percent of the budget.

Article 103: Expenditure is made on the decision of the section and branch bureaus and within the approved budgets.

Article 104: The officer who authorizes payments is the party's representative in the area (the controller or the head) and payment is made in accordance with the preceding article. The authorizing officer may spend each month up to two hundred liras for the sections, three hundred liras for the branches and five hundred liras for the Executive Bureau, and he submits it to the section or branch bureau to approve the payment.

Article 105: The Executive Bureau decides how the party's funds are to be deposited, on the financial responsibility of its members.

2. The Party's Committees

Article 106: The following committees are formed, as far as possible, at the center of each branch body:

A. The propaganda committee.

B. The culture committee.

C. The economic studies committee.

D. The social affairs committee.

Article 107: The members of these committees are appointed, and their number set, by a decision of the branch bureau. Other committees may be created if needed.

Article 108: The competence, work and powers of each committee are set by a decision taken by the branch bureau and ratified by the party's Executive Bureau.

Article 109: If necessary, these committees may also be set up at the centers of the sections, on the proposal of the section bureau and by decision of the branch bureau.

The members of these committees are then appointed by decision of the branch bureau on the proposal of the section bureau.

3. The Party's Employees

Article 110: A section or a branch may appoint the necessary number of employees for administrative and clerical work.

Article 111: Those chosen for this work must be members of the party who have belonged to it for at least one year.

Article 112: These employees are appointed as follows:

A. At the centers of the sections, on the proposal of the section bureau and with the approval of the branch bureau.

B. At the centers of the branches, on the proposal of the branch bureau and with the approval of the Executive Bureau.

C. At the head office, on the proposal of the president of the party and with the approval of the Executive Bureau.

Article 113: The services of these employees may be dispensed with at any time by decision of the bureau to which they are attached.

4. Penalties and Disciplinary Committees

On the Expulsion of Members

Article 114: Membership is withdrawn by decision of the competent authorities for the following reasons:

A. Loss of sound mind.

B. A sentence for a dishonorable felony, or proof of something that disgraces the member.

C. The member's breach of his pledges and defiance of the decisions of the party's bureaus.

D. His failure to pay the monthly dues for four months in succession without an acceptable excuse.

Article 115: The section bureau decides on expulsion after obtaining the approval of the branch bureau. As for members of the section bureaus, the decision on their expulsion rests with the branch bureaus to which they belong, and likewise the expulsion of members of a branch bureau is decided by the party's Executive Bureau.

Article 116: Excepted from the preceding article are the section controllers, the heads and secretaries of the branches and the members of the Executive Bureau, whose expulsion is decided by the party's High Court. Also excepted are the party members in the Chamber of Deputies.

Article 117: The competent authority studies a request for expulsion on the basis of a proposal made:

A. By one of the members of the section bureau.

B. By one of the members of the branch bureau, if the person whose expulsion is sought is a member of the section bureau.

C. By one of the members of the Executive Bureau, if the person whose expulsion is sought is a member of the branch bureau.

Article 118: The request for expulsion is made in writing, with the reasons stated, and submitted in confidence, and the competent authority then charges two of its members with carrying out the investigation and writing their report.

Article 119: When the report of the two members is affirmative, the bureau summons the member whose expulsion is sought and takes from him the explanations it sees fit.

Article 120: The decision to expel is taken at a valid meeting by a two-thirds majority of the members present; it is communicated to all the sections and branches and to the expelled member and posted at the section bureau. The decision on expulsion must be taken within one month at most from the date the request reaches the competent authority, and the head or the secretary of that authority may ask for the decision to be taken within one week at most in urgent cases.

Article 121: The decision to expel is not final, and the expelled member may appeal against it to the party's High Court within three days of being notified, and the Court must give its decision within one week of receiving the appeal.

Article 122: The member must return his party card once the decision to expel has become final.

5. The Party's High Court

Article 123: The party's High Court is made up of the president of the party, its secretary general and the controller general, together with the heads of the branches in the province.

Article 124: The president of the party presides over the Court, and the party's secretary general acts as its rapporteur.

Article 125: The Court has the following powers:

A. To hear appeals against decisions to expel.

B. To consider the expulsion of the members referred to in Article /116/ of these rules.

C. To investigate every complaint made by any member of the party's bureaus against the party's ministers, deputies and bureau members.

D. To investigate and judge violations of the party's program, rules and decisions committed by the party members referred to in Article /116/ of these rules.

Article 126: Complaints are submitted to the president of the Court, who refers them to the rapporteur; the rapporteur writes his report on them within one week and communicates it to all the members and to the member complained against. That member must submit his written defense within one week of being notified of this decision.

Article 127: When these investigations are complete, decisions are taken at a valid meeting by majority. The meeting is valid if two thirds of the members attend.

Article 128: The decisions of the High Court are final and not subject to any form of review.

Article 129: The High Court meets at the call of the president of the party.

6. Amending the Internal Rules

Article 130: These rules are amended on a proposal from one of the branches, submitted to the party's Executive Bureau with a statement of the articles the proposed amendment covers and its wording.

Article 131: The Executive Bureau studies the proposal and gives its opinion on it in a report.

Article 132: The proposal and the Executive Bureau's report are put on the agenda of the first General Congress following the date of the proposal.

Article 134: The party's first bodies are formed provisionally for a period of six months, as follows:

A. The members of the congress who took the oath at the preparatory congress form the Executive Bureau, from among the deputies and others; the Executive Bureau names the members of the branch bureaus, and these name the section bureaus, which in turn name the circles.

B. The Executive Bureau may add one or more members to the provisional bureaus if necessary, in agreement with the bureaus concerned.

C. At the end of the six months, and within two months at most, the bodies are formed in accordance with the internal rules, beginning with the circle.