Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko in favor of preserving strong presidential authority

MINSK, 30 March (BelTA) – It is important to preserve the strong presidential authority in the process of the constitutional reform and redistribution of powers, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he hosted the meeting to discuss redistribution of powers between government bodies on 30 March, BelTA has learned.

“The president will keep his basic authority to influence any decision at any level. No matter where Lukashenko is and no matter who will be the next president, he will be a head of state with strong authority, because if we strip the president of his strong powers (this is not about me), the country will be lost. It will cease to exist,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

The decision to amend the Constitution had been on the agenda for a long time and it was prompted by the interests of the country and the society, the head of state pointed out. “I would like to remind those who have forgotten that it is not Russia or the Russian leaders (some figures in Russia like to float this idea) that make Lukashenko amend the Constitution. No. We have been working on this for a very long time. Finally, we decided to set this process in motion, because Lukashenko will not last forever, and we do not know who my successor will be: maybe, a dictator or an authoritarian leader – no one knows. This is the main reason why we have resorted to amending the Constitution,” the Belarusian president said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that he spoke about constitutional amendments in his address to the Belarusian nation and the parliament several years ago. Two variants of the amended Constitution were suggested after that. The head of state asked to name the names of everyone who came up with the proposals. “There were almost no changes in those two variants because officials understood that they would bear the responsibility for every proposal and amendment they put forward,” the president noted.

This time, 36 members of the Constitutional Commission were tasked with preparing the amendments to the Constitution. “Each of them will be personally responsible for the proposals they submit to me. The president will put the amended Constitution to a referendum. People will decide. If people want changes – they will get them, everything will be fair,” Aleksandr Lukashenko explained.

According to him, some people have voiced concerns about the presidential authority. However, there is no need to amend the Constitution to redistribute the presidential powers, it will be done before the amendments are made, the president assured. “In order to redistribute powers, even basic ones, we do not need to change the Constitution. There are other reasons for the amendments,” Aleksandr Lukashenko explained. “Before we amend the Constitution, we will redistribute powers to dissuade some people from thinking that the president controls everything and makes all decisions,” he added.

“A quarter of a century is a considerable stage of development, especially for a young state like ours. Therefore, as I said earlier, the time has come to take another look at what decisions and at what level should be taken,” the head of state said. The country has established a smooth system of control and decisions made at the top levels of government are impeccably communicated to each executor, Aleksandr Lukashenko stated.

However, there are issues with operational discipline and sometimes the authorities at various levels do not see eye to eye. “There were people who took a wait-and-see approach before the recent events, they wanted to see how the day of freedom would pass, and so on,” he added.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, it is not important, as some sources write, that ‘the government held its ground’. “The government has kept its footing and will continue to do so. We have preserved the state and will keep strengthening it. Therefore, whoever wants to work – stop hunkering down and start working. We have too much work to do,” the president stressed.

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