Syria sets election for April

Syria will hold a parliamentary election on April 22, according to a decree issued on Wednesday by President Bashar al-Assad and reported by the state news agency SANA. The announcement came on the eve of the 44th anniversary of Assad's Baath party taking power in Syria and expectations that the president will deliver a speech to mark the occasion.
The 250-member parliament, the second to be chosen since Assad succeeded his late father Hafez in July 2000, will serve for four years. The current house wraps up its term on Thursday.
Of the total, 127 seats will be open for what are known as "workers and peasants," with the balance set aside for "other categories of the people." In the last poll in March 2003, 167 deputies were elected from the National Progressive Front, the governing coalition of parties led by Baath.