Belarusian People’s Congress

Proposal to make Belarusian People's Congress constitutional body

STOLBTSY, 8 December (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko proposed to give the Belarusian People's Congress a constitutional authority as he met with the staff of Stolbtsy Central District Hospital on 8 December, BelTA has learned.

"I am not sure whether you will support it or not but I think the Belarusian People's Congress should become a constitutional body. We need to have such a body that would supervise the main areas of the country's development," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the president, the agenda of the Belarusian People's Congress will be finalized after the Christmas holidays. The event will be held in late January - early February. “We need to approve the pans for the next five years, the way we will be moving forward in the social and economic development. The main thing is the economic development and we will be working on this. People need to know the goals for five years ahead. The second issue is politics. You suggested it yourselves: the Constitution and so on,” the head of state noted.

The head of state also proposed to elect delegates for a five-year term. They will work on a voluntary basis. At the same time, their role and status will be enhanced greatly: speakers of parliament, ministers and governors will be accountable to them.

“If we remove some presidential responsibilities, we have to transfer them somewhere. These powers are not suitable for the government and parliament. Who do we vest them with? We have to look for such a body. We have the Belarusian People's Congress. Therefore, some powers will have to be transferred,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “If we dilute the powers of the president and vest them with the parliament, the government, ministers and governors, we will face a complete chaos, like the one we experienced in the mid-1990s. Therefore, we need a stabilizing authority. It will act on behalf of the people, labor collectives. This is not a duplicate of the deputy corps. I am in favor of you making decisions on everything. The people need to decide," he added.

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