a new constitution was adopted on 13 march 1973 and was in use until 27 february 2012. it entrenched the power of the arab socialist ba'ath party, its §8 describing the party as "the leading party in the society and the state", even if syria was not, as is often believed, a one-party system in formal terms. the constitution had one amendment in 1981 which required the president to be of muslim faith, and a second amendment in 2000 which set the minimum age of the president from 40 to 34.