Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke about the possible powers of the Belarusian People's Congress, discussed as part of the work on the amendments to the Constitution, during an interview with Igor Korotchenko, a military expert and Editor-in-Chief of the Russian magazine Natsionalnaya Oborona [national defense] on 9 November, BelTA has learned.
“We understand that we have to raise the role of the Constitutional Court. It is not the president who should form the Constitutional Court, because the Constitutional Court should also give an opinion on the results of the presidential election. Today we are talking about making it the function of the Belarusian People's Congress. Maybe even the appointment of the chairman of the Supreme Court,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Among the possible powers of the Belarusian People's Congress are also the issues related to declaring war and peace, impeachment, sending the military out of Belarus, and the formation of the Central Election Commission. “In general, it is the supreme representative body,” the head of state said.
At the same time, dividing the powers between the president and the National Assembly in the new Constitution, the dual power in the country should be excluded, the Belarusian leader stressed. “We need to have a presidential republic. Otherwise, we will destroy the country. It is a very fine line to ensure that the Belarusian People's Congress would not dominate the head of state and would not interfere in the work of the authorities where it is not necessary, but would have enough power to avoid force majeure to secure the country's peaceful development,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.
