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Belarus to set up commission to prepare amendments to Constitution

MINSK, 11 March (BelTA) - A commission will be set up to prepare amendments to the Constitution, Chairman of the Constitutional Court Piotr Miklashevich told the media after delivering the final part of the Constitutional Court's message to the president and the National Assembly "On the state of constitutional legality in the Republic of Belarus in 2020," BelTA has learned.

Piotr Miklashevich recalled that the need for such a commission from among various representatives of the Belarusian society is specified in the resolution of the Belarusian People's Congress. "It will be set up in the near future. This is the prerogative of the head of state. The constitutional commission will carry out its activities publicly, and citizens will be able to make their proposals," he said. “Of course, the commission will throughly consider important proposals from citizens and decide on possible inclusion of certain proposals in the updated Constitution."

A lot of proposals to improve and amend certain provisions of the Constitution, including proposals to the Constitutional Court, were ahead of the Belarusian People’s Congress during the dialogue platforms. “So far this work involved experts. The constitutional commission will be tasked with working out specific provisions of the Constitution,” said Piotr Miklashevich. He believes that it is extremely important that citizens actively participate in the development of proposals, adoption of constitutional provisions “as this significantly increases the legitimacy of the basic law of our country”.

As BelTA reported earlier, during his speech at the 6th Belarusian People's Congress, President Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that the draft of the new Constitution would be ready within a year. “More than two years ago I instructed to prepare new drafts of the Constitution. In my recent State of the Nation Address I said that I had two drafts of the Constitution on my table,” he said. The preparation of the third version is underway. “The draft Constitution will be ready within this year, and it will be discussed publicly. At the start of next year, we will put it up for a referendum,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko. He pointed out that the new Constitution would require amending many laws and the legal framework. “I am sure we will be able to do it within the next year,” the head of the state added.

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