Constitution of the Arab Union

The Constitution of the Union of Arab Republics (Arabic: دُستور اتِّحاد الجمهوريات العربية dustūr ittiḥād al-jumhūriyāt al-ʿarabīyah) is the supreme law of the Union of Arab Republics (UAR; informally known as the Arab Union). The final draft of the constitution was submitted on 10 August 1999 by the Presidium of the Arab Congress and signed into law the same day by President Hafez al-Assad, replacing the 1990 Constitution.

It was drafted between October 1998 and July 1999 by the Constitutional Council, a semi-permanent committee of the of the Supreme Court of the Arab Union, which had begun deliberation on the drafting of a new constitution as early as 1996. The new constitution formalised an overwhelmingly complex de facto institutional structure following the Arab Union's constitutional federalisation in 1990, which up to then had been maintained as the status quo primarily via a series of Supreme Court rulings and President Hafez al-Assad's strong, charismatic leadership, which he exercised via executive orders.

As the foundational document of the basic law of a federation, the constitution identifies, delineates and intentionally separates the areas of jurisdiction of the federal government and the republics (the union's 20 federated states). The constitution lists by name the 20 republics which make up the union, outlines the pragmatic structure of both a republican government (a governorate) and the federal government, and contrasts their respective responsibilities; as such, the Constitution of the Arab Union acts also as the constitution of each of the 20 republics, which do not have their own separate constitutions and thus derive all legitimacy and legality from the unique constitution.

The 1999 constitution was written in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the lingua franca of the Arab Union. A little-known fact about Arabic is that, like the Romance languages (the modern descendants of Latin), the multiple regional varieties of Arabic exist on a dialect–language continuum, with mutual intelligibility decreasing with distance (such that while a Palestinian will understand a Syrian despite notable differences, an Algerian and a Kuwaiti would understand little if any of the other's speech). This makes Arabic more of a language family than a single language in practice; MSA, which is based on the language of the Quran and thus very formal, is thus the answer to this problem. While not used socially by any community, it is the language of education and media, and thus understood at least reasonably well by all.

Like the previous constitutions, the 1999 constitution was written in MSA. The Mass Communications Directorate (MCD), an agency of the Ministry of Communications, which is responsible for regulating MSA use in the Arab Union, also translated the 1999 constitution into twenty official foreign-language versions: Afrikaans, Simplified Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino, French, German, Greek, Hindustani, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese. The official English version appears below:

𝄞 CONSTITUTION

PREAMBLE

The UNION OF ARAB REPUBLICS is a fully sovereign state organised as a federation of twenty co-equal Arab Republics, each enjoying sovereignty under a republican-level elected governorate and the federal Government of the Union, the particulars of such shared sovereignty to be enumerated in full by this document. The primary goal of the Arab Union shall be the realisation of the longtime hopes and dreams of the Arab peoples, at last gathered as one, to realise their place on the world stage and cast off the shackles of foreign domination, colonialism and oppression, and to finally rid themselves of the ignorance and thus vulnerability of a society aligned against itself. To no foreigner, no speculator, shall the Arab find himself subjugated ever again. Arm-in-arm, the Arab marches for the first time in centuries to his own beat, wherein a true renaissance (بعث) may permit the Arab, as one nation, for the first time to open its eyes.

In addition to the twenty Arab Republics, serving as seat of the Government of the Union will be the city proper of Nasseria, outside the jurisdiction of any Arab Republic and thus governed exclusively by the Government of the Union. Its municipal governance will be devolved to fifteen districts with the permission of the Union. Thus, while the highest authority in the capital will be the Government of the Union, ordinary, day-to-day matters will be devolved to a council-manager form of municipal government. The metropolitan area surrounding Nasseria will extend into the territories of the Arab Republics of Jordan, Palestine and Syria, and will thus fall under those republics' sovereignty alongside that of the Government of the Union.

The Government of the Union shall primarily concern itself with foreign affairs and matters affecting two or more republics simultaneously, while each governorate (ie. the elected government of an Arab Republic) shall concern itself with domestic matters not affecting other republics in any way. Certain ministries will be at their administrative centre under the purview of the Government of the Union, but their day-to-day functions devolved to republican agencies, while other Government of the Union-controlled authorities will remain centrally controlled down to the lowest level.

ARTICLE I: Government of the Union

Section 1

The Government of the Union (the federal government) shall be organised as a semi-presidential republic. As such, the head of state is the President of the Union (at both the all-union/federal level and the republican level). Presidential elections occur every six years, with universal suffrage for all mentally fit persons at least 18 years of age.

The President of the Union is commander-in-chief of the Union Defence Forces (the Army, Navy and Air Force, both active duty and reservists) and the National Guard. The President of the Union is the sole personage vested with the power to declare war as well as an end to hostilities.

Section 2

The Arab Congress is the legislative branch of the Government of the Union. It consists of three equal bodies:

The Council of Deputies consists of 300 seats, each representing an All-Union Electoral District (AUED) of 1,620,615 (in some cases give or take one person), such that each Deputy represents an equal number of people. As much as possible, AUEDs are limited to single republics, however there are some cases where an AUED will incorporate territory from two neighbouring republics. The introduction of legislative bills occurring in the Council of Deputies must receive a majority of approval votes before being passed to the Council of Republics, where it is voted on again. The leader of the political party holding the most seats in the Council of Deputies is appointed Prime Minister by the President of the Union, and thus also leads the executive branch of government.

The Council of Republics consists of 40 seats, representing the electorate at a republican-equal rather than population-equal manner. The members of the Council of Republics are known as Councillors. Each republic is represented by a Junior Councillor and a Senior Councillor, the later being the Councillor having served longer in the Council of Republics. In the same manner as the Council of Deputies but reversed, bills introduced in the Council of Republics which pass by a majority are then sent to the Council of Deputies for deliberation.

The third and senior component of the Arab Congress is known as the Presidium of the Arab Congress. As a nine-member council, the job of the Presidium is to receive each bill passed by both Houses and, assuming it fails to contradict the Constitution, enshrine the bill as federal law. The Presidium of the Arab Congress is a nine-member body, consisting of former highly senior members of either legislative house, nominated by the President of the Union to take up the position. Accepting said presidential nomination is not mandatory, however those who do immediately vacate their seat in Congress, which becomes vacant until filled by a new prospespective.

ARTICLE VI

Section 1

i. The Flag of the Union of Arab Republics consists of four colours: red, white, black and green. The Flag is rectangular, with its width measuring two thirds of its length. It is divided into three rectangles of identical dimensions and having the same length as the Flag. The upper one is red, the middle white and the bottom black, with two green stars, of five angles each, charged in the centre of the white rectangle.

ii. Proper display of the Flag under normal circumstances, military and civilian, requires the use of a clean, unblemished sample.

iii. Informally, the Flag may be displayed vertically. However, proper vertical display of the Flag in an official capacity, such as at all federal and republican institutions, at foreign embassies, and during official ceremonies of state including but not limited to military parades and inaugurations, requires the use of an alternate design wherein the two green stars are rotated ninety degrees counter-clockwise so as to appear upright, with the black band on the left and the red on the right. In cases of official vertical display, proportion, beyond equal width of the bands and appropriate size and position of the stars, is inconsequential, with the length of the Flag a matter of aesthetic subjective to the location and manner of display.

ARTICLE VII

Section 17

i. Federal funding affecting local (municipal-level) and republican (governorate-level) institutions and programs will be allocated on a population basis, with the percentage of the national population affected equal to the percentage of available federal funding received by the local or republican institution or program.

ii. Federal infrastructure and related projects will be developed by a workforce drawn from the republican public employment program; vacancies unable to be filled through the employment program after six months will be hired via other means.

iii. A Central Bureau of Statistics shall exist as an impartial and independent federal institution, with its chairman a member of the executive council of the President of the Union.

iv. A quinquennial national census will be conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics: in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025 and so on. In order to minimise undercount, the quinquennial census will be conducted via mail, electronic mail (email) and telephone; respondents who have completed the census will each receive a unique twelve-digit confirmation number, which they must have available upon request for one month after the end of the response period (until 31 May). Respondents may submit their unique twelve-digit confirmation number at their local public administration office to receive a census-completion bonus payment valued at 2400 danānīr (dinars). To minimise overcount, the quinquennial census will request, at minimum, the following required information: full name, date of birth, place of birth, social insurance number, current residential address, former residential address if having moved less than thirty days before date of response, full name and date of birth of each child and/or dependent (if applicable), number of adult (18 and over) occupants of residence including respondent, number of minor (under 18) occupants of residence including respondent, current employment status and occupation (if applicable), and whether also a current or former military reservist or member of National Guard. All residents of the Union must complete the census by 30 April of census year, and may complete as early as 1 January of census year; minors may have a parent or legal guardian complete the census on their behalf. Publicly available quinquennial census results will be: total national population, population of individual republics, population of all municipalities (including the Nasseria Capital District), average household size (at national and specific republican level), total number of active-duty servicemembers, reservists and members of the National Guard, total number of veterans, average annual earnings (at national or specific republican level), and unemployment rate (at national or specific republican level). Publicly available quinquennial census results will be available on 1 July of census year.