MINSK, 18 January (BelTA) - The possibility of combining the posts of the president and the chairman of the Belarusian People's Congress was discussed at a meeting following the nationwide discussion of the draft amendments to the Constitution, BelTA has learned.
Doctor of Law, Honored Lawyer of Belarus and member of the Constitutional Commission Grigory Vasilevich drew attention, among other things, to the possibility of combining the posts of the president and the chairman of the Belarusian People's Congress.
In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the proposal to combine the posts of the president and the chairman of the Belarusian People's Congress would mark a fundamental step away from the already prepared draft. Moreover, the relevant issue was already discussed before. “We proceeded from the fact that the current president is responsible for the Constitution and for the way our country will be living after we adopt the new Constitution. The president is one thing and the chairman of the Belarusian People's Congress is another,” said the Belarusian leader.
“We have decided that we need a new Constitution. We do not know who will be elected president in the country tomorrow. This is why we need a system of checks and balances. We have found them in the form of the Belarusian People's Congress. If we make the president responsible for everything, what check and balances will there be?” the head of state stressed.
Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that the idea of giving a constitutional status to the Belarusian People's Congress was raised in light of the need for the current generation of government officials to gradually step down and let the new generation in. “The elder generation will be keeping an eye. This is a conceptual thing that we have agreed on, and I insist on it. Given my experience I see that we need it,” the president added.
