page_title: Shukri al-Quwatli
section_title: Elections of 1955
hierarchical_section_title: Shukri al-Quwatli / Third presidential term / Elections of 1955
caption_attribution_description: English: An array of Syrian and Palestinian political figures meeting in the Presidential Palace in Damascus. From left to right: Muin al-Madi, Mohamed Amin al-Husayni, Mohamed Ali Eltaher, Shukri al-Quwatli, Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, Fares al-Khoury and Sabri al-Asali
context_page_description: Shukri al-Quwatli was the first president of post-independence Syria. He began his career as a dissident working towards the independence and unity of the Ottoman Empire's Arab territories and was consequently imprisoned and tortured for his activism. When the Kingdom of Syria was established, Quwatli became a government official, though he was disillusioned with monarchism and co-founded the republican Independence Party. Quwatli was immediately sentenced to death by the French who took control over Syria in 1920. Afterward, he based himself in Cairo where he served as the chief ambassador of the Syrian-Palestinian Congress, cultivating particularly strong ties with Saudi Arabia. He used these connections to help finance the Great Syrian Revolt. In 1930, the French authorities pardoned Quwatli and thereafter, he returned to Syria, where he gradually became a principal leader of the National Bloc. He was elected president of Syria in 1943 and oversaw the country's independence three years later.
  Quwatli was reelected in 1948, but was toppled in a military coup in 1949.
context_section_description: Quwatli returned to Syria in 1955, following the ouster of President Adib al-Shishakli and during the presidency of Hashim al-Atassi. Quwatli entered his candidacy in the August 1955 presidential elections, at the age of 63. Required to secure a two-thirds majority in the 142-member Syrian Parliament in order to win, Quwatli defeated his main opponent Khalid al-Azm 89 to 42 (a further six votes were cast as invalid) in the first round. This prompted a second round of voting, in which Quwatli won the presidency with 91 votes against Azm's 41 (a further five votes were blank and two invalid.) Quwatli's bid for the presidency was supported by the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both of which were allied in their opposition to the Baghdad Pact as was Quwatli.
  Prime Minister Sabri al-Asali resigned from his post on 6 September following the Ba'ath Party's withdrawal from the cabinet. As a result, Quwatli attempted to nominate Lutfi al-Haffar as Prime Minister, but reneged after opposition from the Ba'athists. Afterward, Quwatli asked Rushdi al-Kikhiya to form a cabinet, but the latter refused, citing that influence from the Syrian Army would deprive his government of real power. President Nasser of Egypt recommended the reappointment of Asali, but Quwatli refused, instead opting for Said al-Ghazzi, an independent. Ghazzi agreed and subsequently presided over a national unity government.
caption: Syrian and Palestinian leaders meeting Quwatli at the presidential palace, 1955. From right to left: Sabri al-Asali, Fares al-Khoury, Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, Quwatli, Mohamed Ali Eltaher, Nazim al-Qudsi, Amin al-Husayni and Muin al-Madi
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