May 13, 2014

There are changes and new alliances being carried out by opposition currents in Syria. The latest was the conference by the General Committee of the National Democratic Work Committee, which was held yesterday [May 12] in Damascus in the presence of a number of opposition figures and parties. The conference produced recommendations emphasizing the importance of finding a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

It was noteworthy that internal opposition blocs were absent from the conference, such as the National Coordinating Committee (NCC), the State-Building Current, the Popular Front for Change and Liberation and parties that have been recently licensed.

The conference put forth a political vision based on “building Syria as a democratic civil state,” with an emphasis on political pluralism as a guarantee for democracy.

The conference calls for restarting “the negotiations between the regime and opposition delegation, which consists of [currents] at home and abroad, with social and economic figures, under the sponsorship of the United Nations and in the presence of international guarantees to reach a political process through the transitional phase; and to agree on a declaration of constitutional principles that define the new political system for the state and that organize the transitional phase represented by forming a transitional government of national unity that will work toward a cease-fire and to prepare new legislative and presidential elections.”

The final meeting statement concluded by renouncing “all forms of violence, murder and extremism. There’s a need to start a political process through negotiations with international guarantees and under the auspices of the United Nations.”