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А. Lukashenko: Belarus should remain presidential republic
The main accents have been set. Today the President met with a working group that is engaged in finalizing the draft of the new Constitution. It comprises 11 persons, all of them are experienced managers. Once the draft of the Basic Law is finalized, it will be discussed by the Constitutional Commission. The next step will be a national discussion, and then the document will be reviewed by lawyers once again, and only then it will be put up for a referendum. It was announced that it will be held in Belarus not later than February next year.
The group that is finalizing the draft does not cancel the work of the Constitutional Commission, it is still continuing. Today the head of the state has outlined the main points. First, the Constitution is being written not for the President, but for future generations. That is why it is important to take into account the lessons of a quarter of a century and, of course, of the last year. Of course, we still have to decide on many questions, but we definitely cannot allow for dual power in the country. The working group on the Constitution revision is headed by Igor Sergeenko.
The group is headed by the head of the Presidential Administration Igor Sergeenko. And he is assisted by another 10 people. Not all of them have been in the public eye lately, but all of them are very familiar people.
Redistribution of Power
At the dawn of independence, the country needed a strong presidential authority: then it would hardly have survived the crisis without it. Today it's a new time, some authorities can be delegated to local or governmental level. In a word, to take the functions not proper to the President off his shoulders. But at the same time, it would be logical for Belarus to retain the form of presidential rule. By the way, the majority of the Belarusians are for it. Alexander Lukashenko is also in favor of it.
I am absolutely convinced that Belarus should be a presidential republic if we want to save the country. And the All-Belarusian People's Assembly is being introduced not because someone present or the incumbent President is directly rushing to that position, but in order to provide, as the lawyers say, containment and counterbalance. This is one of the fundamental things - containment and counterbalance, all laws and legislation, and above all the Basic Law, are based on this.
The updating of the Constitution will take about a month. By December, the draft of the Basic Law is to be submitted for a national debate. And a referendum on the new wording of the Constitution will be held not later than next February.