New Syrian constitution won 89 pct approval: state TV

BEIRUT - Reuters

AFP Photo

Around 89 percent of Syrians approved a new constitution, proposed by President Bashar al-Assad, in a referendum on Sunday, state television said today.

Constitutional reforms are aimed at quelling the growing rebellion against the Assad family's 42 years in power, but Assad's opponents and the West have the dismissed the reforms and the referendum as a sham.

Turnout in the referendum was 57.4 percent, state television said.