Syria’s ruling Ba’ath party will hold its 10th congress on Monday where reforms will reportedly be high on the agenda.
This will be the first countrywide congress in five years.
Delegates will discuss Syria’s foreign policy, a new law on political parties and other possible reforms which have been stalled for five years.
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The last congress was in 2000, after Hafiz Al-Asad passed away and delegates nominated his son, Bashar Al-Asad, as the new leader. The congress is being held on the backdrop of Syria’s withdrawal from the neighboring Lebanon in April, which many believe weakened Syria’s role in the region.
Some two million people are members of the Ba’ath party, which has been the ruling party in Syria since 1963.
The delegates are also expected to discuss citizenship for Syria’s 100,000 Kurds.
On Sunday, riots between Kurds and local police erupted in the northern Syrian town Qamishli. Some reports say a policeman and at least three Kurds were killed in the riots. Kurds were protesting and demanding an investigation into the recent death of a Kurdish cleric.
The Kurdish opposition parties blame the Syrian authorities for the cleric’s death but the government says he was abducted and killed by criminals.