Popular Front for Change and Liberation
{{Infobox political party
| name = Popular Front for Change and Liberation
| native_name = الجبهة الشعبية للتحرير والتغيير
| native_name_lang = ar
| logo = Popular Front for Change and Liberation logo.png
| logo_size = 150px
| colorcode = #FF7070
| president = Qadri Jamil
| foundation = {{Start date and age|2011}}
| headquarters = Damascus
| ideology = Democratic socialism
Secularism
Factions:
Communism
| position = Left-wing
Factions:
Far-left
| seats1_title = People's Assembly
| seats1 = {{Composition bar|0|250|hex=#FF7070}}
| website =
| country = Syria
}}
The Popular Front for Change and Liberation ({{langx|ar|الجبهة الشعبية للتحرير والتغيير}}, al-Jabha aš-š‘abiyya li'l-taghayyir wa'l-taḥrīr) is a coalition of Syrian political parties. It briefly participated as the leader of the official political opposition within the People's Assembly of Syria, the state's unicameral parliament.[http://www.syria-today.com/index.php/january-2011/714-focus/13363-a-better-bureaucracy Why reforming Syria's public institutions is the 11th Five-Year Plan's top priority.] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130104192613/http://www.syria-today.com/index.php/january-2011/714-focus/13363-a-better-bureaucracy |date=2013-01-04 }}, Syria Today, January 2011 Following Assad regime's decision to conduct the 2016 parliamentary elections during the Geneva talks, the front withdrew its participation.{{Cite book |last=Szmolk |first=Inmaculada |title=Political Change in the Middle East and North Africa: After the Arab Spring |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4744-1528 6 |location=Edinburgh, United Kingdom |pages=415–416}}
History and profile
The front was established in August 2011.{{cite web|author=Elizabeth O'Bagy|title=Syria's Political Struggle: Spring 2012|url=http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Backgrounder_SyriasPoliticalStruggle_Spring2012.pdf|work=ISW|access-date=26 October 2014|format=Backgrounder|date=7 June 2012}} Coalition leader Qadri Jamil stated that there had been numerous violations in favor of their opponent, the National Progressive Front, in the 2012 parliamentary election.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120515002807/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-05/09/c_131578032.htm Syrian candidate says parliamentary elections marred with violations], Xinhua, 9 May 2012 The Popular Front for Change and Liberation brought together Jamil's People’s Will Party, Ali Haidar's Syrian Social Nationalist Party – Intifada, and others.[http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-parliamentary-elections-cynicism-wins-day Syrian Parliamentary Elections: Cynicism Wins the Day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811231709/http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-parliamentary-elections-cynicism-wins-day |date=2012-08-11 }}, Al Akhbar (Lebanon), 7 May 2012{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/05/2012524113941282101.html|title=Assad says Syria 'able' to get out of crisis|work=Al Jazeera|date=25 May 2012|access-date=11 June 2012}}
They have criticized the ruling party on occasion, particularly after the 2012 parliamentary election, when Qadri Jamil questioned the transparency of the vote and considered giving up his seat depending on the government's response, and a member of the SSNP complained about the Ba'ath party's domination of parliament.
Leader of the SSNP-Intifada Ali Haidar announced on 6 May 2014 that his party was withdrawing from the Popular Front for Change and Liberation over a difference in positions towards the 2014 presidential election. The SSNP supported the re-election of Bashar al-Assad.{{cite web|url=http://tishreen.news.sy/tishreen/public/read/315368|title=SSNP Supports Bashar al-Assad's Presidential Nomination|date=7 May 2014|access-date=3 November 2014|archive-date=3 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103112632/http://tishreen.news.sy/tishreen/public/read/315368|url-status=dead}}
On 10 August 2014, the remaining Popular Front signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria, calling for ″comprehensive grassroots change, which means the transition from the current authoritarian regime to a democratic pluralistic system within a democratic civil State based on the principle of equal citizenship to all Syrians regardless of their ethnic, religious and sectarian identities.″{{cite web|url=http://syrianncb.org/2014/08/11/memorandum-of-understanding-between-the-national-coordination-body-for-democratic-change-in-syria-ncb-and-the-change-and-liberation-front/|title=Memorandum of Understanding between the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria – NCB and the Change and Liberation Front|date=11 August 2014|access-date=3 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103145717/http://syrianncb.org/2014/08/11/memorandum-of-understanding-between-the-national-coordination-body-for-democratic-change-in-syria-ncb-and-the-change-and-liberation-front/|archive-date=3 November 2014|url-status=dead}}
Following Assad regime's decision to organize parliamentary elections in 2016 without upholding its previous pledges to seek constitutional amendments and political negotiations, PFCL withdrew its participation from the Syrian parliament and joined the rest of Syrian opposition. The elections were widely perceived as a hardening of government stance and part of its attempts scuttle the Geneva framework.{{Cite book |last=Szmolk |first=Inmaculada |title=Political Change in the Middle East and North Africa: After the Arab Spring |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4744-1528 6 |location=Edinburgh, United Kingdom |pages=415–416}}