Regional Secretary (Ba'ath Party)
In the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, the founding and ruling political party of the Arab Union, the General Secretary of the Regional Command (Arabic: الأمين العام للقيادة القطرية al-amīn al‘ām lil-qiyādah al-quṭrīyah), typically referred to as Regional Secretary (الأمين القطري al-amīn al-quṭrī), is the de facto leader of a particular regional branch of the party. In republics where the respective regional branch forms that republic's government, the Regional Secretary serves ex officio as premier of the republic.
The Regional Secretary is responsible for overseeing the Regional Command, which is the highest body in a party regional branch between sessions of the Regional Congress (the party congress of the particular regional branch, which is a plenary session of all card-carrying party members of the regional branch). The Regional Secretary also chairs the Central Committee of the Regional Command, a five-to-seven-member council which advises on policy and pressing matters when the Regional Command is also not in session. On average, a regional congress meets triennially (once every three years), the elected Regional Command two to five times a year, and the Regional Secretary's Central Committee at the discretion of the Regional Secretary, most commonly at least once a week.
All decisions made by the Regional Secretary and Regional Command on behalf of the party branch are reviewed at subsequent sessions of the Regional Congress, which typically occur every three years or immediately before a republican congressional election. Before the closing of a session of the Regional Congress, the Regional Congress also elects a new Regional Command and its Regional Secretary; this can take the form of the last Regional Command being reinstated with the same Regional Secretary, some changes to the membership of the Regional Command and/or a new Regional Secretary, or the complete replacement of the former Regional Command with a new one including new Regional Secretary.
Between sessions of the Regional Congress, the Regional Secretary answers to the National Secretary, who leads the entire Ba'ath Party via the National Command, the whole-party equivalent of a Regional Command which is elected at the National Congress.
