Events

Plans to incorporate Belarusian People’s Congress into Constitution

MINSK, 14 May (BelTA) – Suggestions have been made to give a constitutional status to the Belarusian People’s Congress, BelTA learned from Valery Mitskevich, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, a member of the Constitutional Commission, at a session of the commission on 14 May.

According to the MP, suggestions were made to give this form of people’s democracy a constitutional status taking into account the current public and political significance of the Belarusian People’s Congress, the decisions the congress makes, the tasks the head of state outlined during the 4th Belarusian People’s Congress, and the results dialogue platforms had produced. Valery Mitskevich continued: “It can be a permanently operating body with its own working bodies: a presidium and a secretariat. The delegates will be elected to work as part of the Belarusian People’s Congress for five years.”

In his words, it would be a good idea to discuss the authority of the Belarusian People’s Congress. Apart from summing up social and economic development results and discussing programs for the next five-year term the Belarusian People’s Congress may be vested with the authority to determine the main directions of Belarus’ domestic policy and foreign policy, make decisions on conceptual matters concerning the development of the state and the society. Valery Mitskevich continued: “Apart from that, we should discuss authorizing the Belarusian People’s Congress to contact the president with a proposal on scheduling referendums, on retiring the government or contact the parliament with proposals on expressing the vote of no-confidence to the government and so on. The entities that can convene the Belarusian People’s Congress may include the president, the parliament, and citizens to the amount of, for instance, 150,000 people.”

The fourth session of the Constitutional Commission took place on 14 May. Proposals were discussed on amending the Constitution’s provisions that regulate functions and the authority of the parliament.

The first session of the Constitutional Commission took place on 31 March. A schedule of the commission’s sessions was approved – the sessions are supposed to take place two times a month.

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