Nationwide discussion of Belarus’ new constitution draft may start by year-end – Lukashenko’s Executive Office

<p> MINSK, Nov 15 - PrimePress. A nationwide discussion of the new draft edition of Belarus’ Constitution may start in late November of early December 2021, said Igor Sergeyenko, chief of President Lukashenko’s Executive Office. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Sergeyenko made a statement to this effect following President Alexander Lukashenko’s meeting with the working group on finalizing the new Constitution draft on 15 November. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “So far, the proposals put forward by the working group have been generally supported. In the future, they will be discussed by the Constitutional Commission (before that, the commission will study the text we will send them literally this week). I think that in late November-early December 2021 the Constitution draft will be put to a nationwide discussion,” BelTA reports citing Sergeyenko as saying. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “The Belarusian People’s Congress will be proposed as the supreme representative body. Its powers will be defined accordingly. A number of powers have been proposed by the Constitutional Commission. The working group suggested, among other things, the powers regarding the election of leaders from among the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, the Central Election Commission, the power to approve the social and economic development programs for the five-year terms and a number of others,” said Sergeyenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> The final text of the amendments to the Constitution shall be made public a month before the referendum. </p> <p>   </p> <p> As previously reported, Lukashenko once again spoke about the possibility of adopting a new Constitution in June 2020 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. 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 have submitted proposals to amend the constitution by August 2021 and president he draft to Lukashenko. Since then, he has returned the draft constitution for revision several times. In October, Lukashenko formed a working group to elaborate the draft constitution. End </p>

2021-11-16

Primepress