Page "National Progressive Front (Syria)" Paragraph 2

From 1972 to date, only parties participating in the NPF have been legally permitted to operate in Syria.

There is currently considerable discussion in Syria regarding a proposed new law which will allow political parties to be formed more generally: it is as yet unclear whether the parties to be licensed under this law would be required to join the NPF.

Traditionally, the parties of the NPF are socialist and / or Arab nationalist in orientation, but in 2005 the Syrian Social Nationalist Party was formally legalized and joined the front as the first non-Socialist, non-Arab nationalist party admitted to the NPF.

Some have suggested this may allow toleration of broader ideological viewpoints within Syrian politics, but ethnically-based ( Kurdish and Assyrian ) movements continue to be repressed, and a strict ban on religious and right-wing parties is still enforced.