President of Syria

President of the Syrian Arab Republic
Standard of the President
Incumbent Bashar al-Assad since 17 July 2000
Residence	People's Palace & Tishreen Palace, Damascus
Term length	Seven years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Shukri al-Quwatli
Formation	17 April 1946

The President of Syria is the head of state of the Syrian Arab Republic. He is vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at his sole discretion, to his Vice Presidents. He appoints and dismisses the Prime Minister and other members of the Council of Ministers (the cabinet) and military officers.

Term of office

The Constitution of Syria allows the President to run for a 7-year term, which can be renewed once as of the 2012 constitution.

Eligibility criteria

The conditions required to be a candidate in a presidential election are the following:

1. A candidate must be Muslim
2. A candidate must have the support of no less than 35 members of the parliament
3. A candidate must be 34 years old or older
4. A candidate must have lived in Syria for 10 years before the election
5. A candidate must be Syrian by birth, of parents who are Syrians by birth
6. A candidate must not be married to a non-Syrian spouse

Powers

Apart from executive authority relating to a wide range of governmental functions including foreign affairs, the president has the right to dissolve the People's Council, in which case a new council must be elected within ninety days from the date of dissolution.

List of Presidents

Main article: List of Presidents of Syria

Latest election

Main article: Syrian presidential election, 2014

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Bashar al-Assad	Ba'ath Party	10,319,723	88.7
	Hassan al-Nouri	NIACS	500,279	4.3
	Maher Hajjar	Independent	372,301	3.2
Invalid/blank votes			442,108	3.8
Total			11,634,412	100
Registered votes/turnout			15,845,575	73.42
Source: SANA, SANA

External links

• President of Syria on Facebook
• President of Syria on Twitter
• President of Syria on Instagram
• Official YouTube channel