Belarus’ new Constitution won’t let citizens elect heads of local administrations – Lukashenko
<p> MINSK, Nov 27 - PrimePress. The new Constitution of Belarus should not provide for election of heads of local administrations. This follows from the words of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on November 27 during his visit to the 6th Minsk City Clinical Hospital. </p> <p> </p> <p> Lukashenko said: “… our infamous protesters primarily strike at the president and the power vertical. They want democracy, they want to elect everyone… We saw that in Gorbachev's time. Back then we could elect everyone, including heads of enterprises. What did we elect in the end? We lost the country and the USSR collapsed. Now they want us to fall for the same dirty trick.” </p> <p> </p> <p> Lukashenko stressed he is in favour of amending the Constitution and is convinced it is necessary to adjust the head of state’s powers. However, he said he is opposed to the idea of giving the current Constitution to an unknown president.” </p> <p> </p> <p> Lukashenko also said: “We have a very serious Constitution. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus are probably the three advanced countries that have such a serious and rigid Constitution in which everything depends on the president's decisions. From this point of view since I understand that, god forbid, if the new president wants to start a war and the rest… Yes, we need to create a new Constitution but it should benefit the country. I don't want the country to fall to ruin later on.” </p> <p> </p> <p> Lukashenko also commented on proposals to elect members of the parliament in accordance with party lists and respectively to set up political parties. He is convinced that the implementation of these initiatives may split the society and lead to the emergence of groups with different interests. </p> <p> </p> <p> He also said that he will not be Belarus’ president under the new constitution. “I am not going to shape the Constitution to suit my needs. I am not going to be the president once the new Constitution is in place. This is why calm down and weather it calmly. I will never allow someone to hit the wrong note in the course of adopting the new Constitution or rig an election in line with the new Constitution later on.” </p> <p> </p> <p> Speaking about the opposition, Lukashenko said that "they do not need any constitutional changes". "If we adopt a new Constitution, there will be a dispersal of power. And they need a president with current power," he said. </p> <p> </p> <p> As previously reported, in June 2020, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko once again spoke about the possibility of adopting a new Constitution within two years after former presidential candidate Viktor Babariko proposed to return to the 1994 Constitution, which significantly limited the powers of the president. Since then, Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian and Russian officials have repeatedly spoken about a possible constitutional reform in Belarus as a solution to the political crisis that has arisen in the country. Lukashenko said in September 2020 that he was going to call a new presidential election under a new Constitution. Although the Belarusian authorities have been talking about constitutional amendments since 2010, not a single draft or even a roadmap for constitutional reform has been made public. End </p> <p> </p>
2020-11-28
Primepress
MINSK, Nov 27 - PrimePress. The new Constitution of Belarus should not provide for election of heads of local administrations. This follows from the words of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on November 27 during his visit to the 6th Minsk City Clinical Hospital.
Lukashenko said: “… our infamous protesters primarily strike at the president and the power vertical. They want democracy, they want to elect everyone… We saw that in Gorbachev's time. Back then we could elect everyone, including heads of enterprises. What did we elect in the end? We lost the country and the USSR collapsed. Now they want us to fall for the same dirty trick.”
Lukashenko stressed he is in favour of amending the Constitution and is convinced it is necessary to adjust the head of state’s powers. However, he said he is opposed to the idea of giving the current Constitution to an unknown president.”
Lukashenko also said: “We have a very serious Constitution. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus are probably the three advanced countries that have such a serious and rigid Constitution in which everything depends on the president's decisions. From this point of view since I understand that, god forbid, if the new president wants to start a war and the rest… Yes, we need to create a new Constitution but it should benefit the country. I don't want the country to fall to ruin later on.”
Lukashenko also commented on proposals to elect members of the parliament in accordance with party lists and respectively to set up political parties. He is convinced that the implementation of these initiatives may split the society and lead to the emergence of groups with different interests.
He also said that he will not be Belarus’ president under the new constitution. “I am not going to shape the Constitution to suit my needs. I am not going to be the president once the new Constitution is in place. This is why calm down and weather it calmly. I will never allow someone to hit the wrong note in the course of adopting the new Constitution or rig an election in line with the new Constitution later on.”
Speaking about the opposition, Lukashenko said that "they do not need any constitutional changes". "If we adopt a new Constitution, there will be a dispersal of power. And they need a president with current power," he said.
As previously reported, in June 2020, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko once again spoke about the possibility of adopting a new Constitution within two years after former presidential candidate Viktor Babariko proposed to return to the 1994 Constitution, which significantly limited the powers of the president. Since then, Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian and Russian officials have repeatedly spoken about a possible constitutional reform in Belarus as a solution to the political crisis that has arisen in the country. Lukashenko said in September 2020 that he was going to call a new presidential election under a new Constitution. Although the Belarusian authorities have been talking about constitutional amendments since 2010, not a single draft or even a roadmap for constitutional reform has been made public. End