GOLD Report I - UCLG

223Syria, where the municipal councillors havelong been elected by universal suffrage, nowwants to move toward real pluralist localdemocracy. The 2007 reform law stipulatesthat people may elect the candidates of theirchoice, and not, as has been the case so far,just one from a list drawn up by the NationalProgressive Front –a coalition led by theBaath party currently in power.IV.2. Partially kept promises:the central state and local politicsThe only two states in the region wherethere is absolute centralization are the UnitedArab Emirates and Oman. There are noelections in these two states, though thepossibility of introducing elections is beingconsidered on an official level.Municipal elections have been establishedin all the other countries. For all that, seculartraditions, which are more based on thevoluntary ‘consultation’ by the sovereignthan on the sovereignty of the people, arenot easy to circumvent. The electoral processin many places is still marked by centralgovernment intervention.a) A prior state interventionNominations. The clearest and most officialtype of intervention is, of course, thenomination of all or part of a municipalcouncil, including mayors. This is presentlythe case in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain,and Kuwait.In Syria, as we have seen, it is the existenceof an ‘executive council’ or ‘executivebureau’ parallel to the municipal councilwhich embodies this central control.Prior examination of the candidates. Anotherform of interference is the prior examinationof the candidates by the central power. Thispermits the central government to effectivelysteer the election in a particular direction.It is this process that caused theextraordinary length (from February to mid-December) of the 2005 elections in SaudiArabia. In Islamic Republic of Iran, candidatesare accepted only after an examinationvalidates the intensity of their faith, or theirbelief in the authority of a jurisconsult, theVelâyat-é-Faghih – a situation which continuesto arouse strong suspicion. In Syria,according to the present law, the party inpower compiles the list of candidates.Election into office. This type of electionlimits the number of candidates to the numberof vacant posts, ensuring that all candidateswill attain public office. Seen as acost-saving measure, it is reserved for unusualcircumstances. When, on the otherhand, it is the result of pre-electoral bargaining,it can be detrimental to the exercise ofsocially aware democratic principles.Pre-election arrangements influenced Lebanon’smost recent elections; 121 municipalcouncils and 400 mokhtar were elected intooffice following an alliance between the politicalparties and traditional leaders; ineffect, the two factions merged. In Jordan, asimilar approach was observed in 17 municipalities.b) A posteriori interventionThe modification of municipal councils. InJordan in 1999, the king changed the compositionof municipal councils to include awoman in each of them – a rather positiveaction. By contrast, in Kuwait in 1986, theEmir simply dissolved all the municipalcouncils.In Syria, once the local councils are elected,they in their turn elect an executivebureau; a third of the executive bureaucandidates can be recruited from the localcouncils themselves. Furthermore, after anelection, certain specific public servicerelatedissues can be placed in the handsof permanent or temporary committeesthat include people from outside the municipalgovernment.Intervention in the election of the mayor.This form of tutelage of the State is