Early presidential election might be called after adopting new Constitution – Lukashenko

<p> MINSK, Dec 2 - PrimePress. After a new Constitution is adopted in Belarus, an early presidential election may be held in Belarus. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko made a statement to this effect on 30 November in an interview with Dmitry Kiselyov, General Director at the Russian state news agency MIA Russia Today on 30 November. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Lukashenko explained that after passing the constitutional amendments, new elections will be called for all power structures. “Parliamentary elections, a presidential election, and election of delegates to the Belarusian People's Congress. Three to four years are left before the presidential election. It can take place as scheduled. However, early election is also possible,” Lukashenko said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “It will depend on the president’s decision. Another option is formalizing another timing for the election in the transitional provisions of the Constitution,” said Lukashenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Lukashenko found it difficult to answer the question whether he will run for re-election. “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know,” he said. According to him, this will depend primarily on the situation in the country. At the same time, Lukashenko said he has no plans to abandon mainstream politics and wants to be remembered as ‘the founder of this state'. </p> <p>   </p> <p> A referendum on the new Belarus Constitution draft will take place in February 2022 as scheduled, unless some emergency arises, said Lukashenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “Right now it (the draft) is on my desk. Right now I’m sitting and looking at it. And every line as it was before. The Constitution - I wrote every line of it myself (the current Constitution – editor’s note). Lawyers wrote it with a pen and I dictated it, because I could see - I am the president - what powers I needed to hold the country together. And now I am looking at it, because I have to submit it to referendum. We’re going to publish it now, in about a month. I think in about two weeks. And in February in approximately the twenties (we will think over how it is more convenient for us and by law, according to the current Constitution there is a deadline for putting it to a referendum) the Constitution will be put by me to a referendum,” he said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Answering a clarifying question whether a referendum will take place in February, Lukashenko said: “Unless a war starts, God forbid.” </p> <p>   </p> <p> According to Lukashenko, the updated Constitution strengthens the role of the government and the parliament, gives a constitutional status to and specifies the powers of the Belarusian People’s Congress. “The president, like today, will form the government, will be the head of state. Strong presidential power will remain,” he said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> As previously reported, Lukashenko once again spoke about the possibility of adopting a new Constitution in June 2020. 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. In an address to the VI All-Belarusian People’s Congress on 11 February Lukashenko announced that a new draft Constitution of Belarus will be ready in 2021 and would be discussed countrywide within a year. He confirmed that the referendum should be held no later than February 2022. </p> <p>   </p> <p> A 36-strong Constitutional Commission was established in Belarus in March 2021, which was supposed to submit proposals to amend the constitution and present the draft to Lukashenko. </p> <p> On 25 November during a joint meeting of the Constitutional Commission and the working group for elaborating the draft constitution, Lukashenko said the work to elaborate the draft was on the home stretch. The final text of the constitutional amendments must be published for public scrutiny one month before the referendum. End </p> <p>   </p> <p>   </p>

2021-12-03

Primepress