The People's Assembly suspends its sessions until July 26 to complete its rules of procedure

The People's Assembly (Parliament)  has entered the one-month deadline set for the preparation of the rules of procedure, its laws, and the selection of its standing committees to organize administrative work during its legislative period that lasts 30 months, amid confirmations of the existence of major amendments and changes in the standing committees, by canceling some of them and creating others in line with the transitional phase that the country is experiencing, but these amendments will depend on the old system, change it, add to it, or cancel it.

The Council adjourned its sessions to July 26  after the first session on July 12, which was completed by the members' meeting, the performance of the oath and the selection of the Executive Bureau until the completion of the drafting of the "Draft Rules of Procedure" by the committee in charge, provided that the members vote and make amendments to it, before proceeding to complete the construction of its internal structures to launch its legislative work.

Article 29 of the Syrian Constitutional Declaration sets out the time frame for the preparation of the internal procedures governing the functioning of the Council, and stipulates that "the People's Assembly shall prepare its rules of procedure within a period of one month from its first session."

Interior House Arrangement

  Member of the People's Assembly, Bisher Hawi, revealed that the formation of the special team has begun to prepare the rules of procedure that determine the course of the Council, its procedures, its convening, its elections, the vacancy of membership, the organizational structure, the system of sessions, the legislative and political procedures of the parliament, the means of control, membership affairs, and general provisions.

"During the long waiting period, since the election of members through the electoral commissions, which lasted about 9 months until the first session, some legal members took advantage of the time to draft a preliminary draft of the rules of procedure to avoid wasting more time and exploiting it technically and practically.

 The Syrian MP pointed out that the "committee" that is being formed may consist of between 7 and 9 members, and often includes knowledgeable jurists, and will rely heavily on the "members' draft", which relied on many references and experiences gained from training workshops, and benefited from the advice and experiences of advanced Arab MPs and councils.

Hawi said that it is not excluded to rely on the previous rules of procedure of the Syrian parliament, with the addition of new amendments and the abolition of laws, "but it remains an existing internal system with positives, in addition to the possibility of relying on Arab internal systems, especially the Jordanian parliament, as the Jordanian experience and its parliament are similar to Syria."

Creation of committees and abolition of others

Parliamentary sources confirmed that the completion of the Council's rules of procedure will be a prelude to the stage of selecting parliamentary committees specialized in following up the work of ministries and state institutions and the executive authority, determining the members, number and tasks of the committees, and finally selecting through the internal elections system.

Hawi pointed out that there are permanent committees in all parliaments that cannot be touched, such as the "Constitutional Affairs Committee" and the "Arab and Foreign Affairs Committee", in addition to the "Economic Committees", while work is underway to create committees specialized in the Syrian context, foremost of which is the "Transitional Justice and Accountability Committee", and the possibility of establishing a "Civil Peace Committee".

 "These steps are necessary and a solid basis for the legitimacy of the current People's Assembly, and what comes out of it, and for regulating its course and work," he said, adding, "When completed, the parliament will be ready to move to the stage of legislative work and the parliament will exercise its authority."