Belarus parliament elections
Lukashenko expects new parliament to represent all strata of Belarusian society
MINSK, 16 September (BelTA) – The parliament has to represent all strata of the Belarusian society. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the relevant statement as he met with Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko on 16 September, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “The future parliament should be better than the current one. If it is as good or worse, it will indicate lack of progress. This is why – I beg your pardon – better people should come. When necessary, these people should lead the republic forward.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that the parliament should represent all the strata of the Belarusian society ranging from young people to elderly ones. According to the head of state, trade unions, public organizations, and political parties should nominate their candidates for the parliament and should work hard to get them elected.
“If there are genuine opposition parties in the country, they too should nominate their candidates and advocate them in the course of the election campaign. It is also very important. The parliament should represent all the strata of our society. We don’t want talks saying it doesn’t represent young people or the elderly. Those people may think a bit differently than the average population strata, than workers, peasants, and some of the intellectuals but they are part of our society. We need to hear their voice. It is my principled attitude.”
“I am not trying to hide it: we should support such MPs. We are not going to stand aside. The most important thing is to keep it stable and get reasonable, normal people into the government, into the parliament, people who are not going to destroy things, but will create, preferably on the basis of what we have in today’s Belarus,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also asked Vladimir Andreichenko to take care of the MPs, whose work in the parliament is nearly finished. The head of state noted they may find opportunities to apply their talents in business activities and other government bodies. “Parliamentary work teaches a lot regardless of someone’s age. This is why we shouldn’t lose those, who may want to work for the benefit of Belarus tomorrow. It is necessary to find jobs for them depending on their willingness to work and professionalism. And there are many professionals there,” the president stated.
Aleksandr Lukashenko believes that some 30-35% of the current members of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly should try to get themselves re-elected. He stressed it would help preserve continuity in the Belarusian parliament. “Otherwise, absolutely new people will come and will have to spend a year and a half learning things. It would be desirable to keep the nucleus of the current parliament,” the head of state said.
In his opinion, it is also necessary to support women willing to run for the parliament. “We’ve already seen that a parliament is stable if one in three of the MPs are women. Men behave then. They feel shame if they don’t. It is a very strong stabilizing factor in any society,” the president pointed out. In turn, Vladimir Andreichenko noted that Belarus occupies leading positions among other countries by the number of female MPs.
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