MINSK, 30 August (BelTA) – The updated Constitution of Belarus should have empowered the Belarusian People's Congress to elect the authorities, especially the president, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a government meeting on 30 August to discuss the development of civil society and the work of political parties and public associations in the country, BelTA has learned.
“I have studied the system of party formation and election bodies all over the world. We should have given people an opportunity to decide on the election of the government, especially the president, at the Belarusian People's Congress,” the Belarusian leader said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that presidential elections always rock the situation to some extent, and a number of countries have a different system. For example, in China the leader of the country is elected by the National People's Congress (NPC).
“Politics, party activities and such are a professional job,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The Belarusian People's Congress consists of professionals, representatives of all sections of the society. Meanwhile not all millions of voters can really understand all processes.
"Indeed, the Assembly represents all sections of the society, professional, politically-conscious. They could elect president. We could give him any powers. Does Xi Jinping, who is currently elected by the National People's Congress, have no authorities? He does, more than me and Putin combined. Therefore, we should have suggested this norm to the Constitution,” the president said.
The head of state said that, on the one hand, he did not take such a step so as not to take away this right from people. "Today I feel that we should have drawn on practical experience. We would have survived and continued working peacefully. The parliament would have been elected by constituencies, as it is now. But we've already missed this chance. It's not a disaster. If a need arises, we will return to this, but not now. Maybe it is not us who will revisit this issue," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
On the other hand, Aleksandr Lukashenko said that he could be accused of being afraid of people and holding on to the power. "I've never had such goal and never will. My goal is not to keep power, as they say. Nothing of the kind," he stressed.
