ectoral disputes and rules on constitutionality of
laws and decrees; justices appointed for four-year terms by the
President); Court of Cassation; Appeals Courts (Appeals Courts
represent an intermediate level between the Court of Cassation and
local level courts); local level - Magistrate Courts; Courts of
First Instance; Juvenile Courts; Customs Courts; specialized courts
- Economic Security Courts (hear cases related to economic crimes);
Supreme State Security Court (hear cases related to national
security); Personal Status Courts (religious; hear cases related to
marriage and divorce)

Political parties and leaders:

legal parties: National Progressive Front or NPF [President Bashar
al-ASAD, Dr. Suleiman QADDAH] (includes Arab Socialist Renaissance
(Ba'th) Party [President Bashar al-ASAD]; Socialist Unionist
Democratic Party [Fadlallah Nasr Al-DIN]; Syrian Arab Socialist
Union or ASU [Safwan QUDSI]; Syrian Communist Party (two branches)
[Wissal Farha BAKDASH, Yusuf Rashid FAYSAL]; Syrian Social
Nationalist Party [Ali QANSU]; Unionist Socialist Party [Fayez
ISMAIL])
opposition parties not legally recognized:: Arab Democratic
Socialist Union Party [Hasan Abdul AZIM]; Arab Socialist Movement;
Democratic Ba'th Party [Ibrahim MAHKOS]; People's Democratic Party
[Riad al TURK]; Revolutionary Workers' Party [Abdul Hafeez al HAFEZ]
Kurdish parties (considered illegal): Kurdish Democratic Front
[Abdul Hamid DARWISH] (includes four parties); Kurdish Coordination
[Abdul Hakim BASHAR] (includes Azadi Party [Kheirudin MURAD], Future
Party [Masha'l TAMMO], Yekity Party [Hasam SALE])
other parties: Nahda Party [Abdul Aziz al MISLET]; Syrian Democratic
Party [Mustafa QALAAJI]

Political pressure groups and leaders:

Damascus Declaration National Council [Riyad SEIF, secretary
general] (a broad alliance of opposition groups and individuals
including: Committee for Revival of Civil Society [Michel KILO,
Riyad SEIF], Communist Action Party [Fateh JAMOUS], Kurdish
Democratic Alliance, Kurdish Democratic Front, Liberal Nationalists'
Movement, National Democratic Front, National Democratic Rally, and
Syrian Human Rights Society or HRAS [Fawed FAWUZ]); National
Salvation Front (alliance between former Vice President Abd al-Halim
KHADDAM, the SMB, and other small opposition groups); Syrian Muslim
Brotherhood or SMB [Sadr al-Din al-BAYANUNI] (operates in exile in
London; endorsed the Damascus Declaration, but is not an official
m