His role is a bit ‘hyperbolised’ in the country, Belarus president Alyaksandr Lukashenka told Georgian journalists during his visit to Tbilisi.
“Indeed, we have a strong presidential power, which saved the country from destruction. I do not want to be too modest. I ask you not to consider this as indiscretion, either. Of course, Lukashenka’s role as the head of state is significant in Belarus. However, there is also a well-developed management system in our sovereign independent state,” the press service quotes Lukashenka.
However, in his opinion, life is changing and everything should be ‘improved’.
“I have recently said that the time will come to amend the Constitution and maybe change some norms. Some functions of the President will be transferred to the executive authorities, the government, and the parliament. We are moving to it. Well, a proper moment has not come yet, but it may come tomorrow, and we should be ready. We will start working on our Constitution so that it [changes] would not happen as a result of some street protest campaign which will prompt the authorities for action,” he said.
Interestingly, the Belarusian leader also stressed that there were many smart strong politicians in the country.
In 2016, Alyaksandr Lukashenka raised the question of constitutional reform for the first time. In January 2018, Lidziya Yarmoshyna, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission, said that he Belarusian Electoral Code might be amended during the ‘modernization of the Constitution’. According to her, the president stressed the need to ‘keep the Constitution current’.
24 years ago, on 15 March 1994, the first-ever Constitution of independent Belarus was adopted. But it should be noted that in the 1996 referendum, the majority of voters approved of constitutional amendments put forward by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, which dramatically increased the president’s power. Among other things, these amendments gave Lukashenka’s decrees the force of law, gave him near-total control over the budget and extended his term to 2001.
belsat.eu
