MINSK, 27 October (BelTA) - Transition to a mixed electoral system, an institution of the human rights commissioner, national symbols are the examples of proposals to change the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Legislation of the House of Representatives Svetlana Lyubetskaya said in an interview to the STV channel, BelTA has learned.
According to Svetlana Lyubetskaya, a huge number of proposals have already been received. There are those with legal reasoning and simply wishes and ideas from individuals, collectives and business entities. “We are not talking about their number. The point is to see what people talk about, what they think about. We see a serious approach from Belarusian people,” she stressed.
“As for the proposals already received, we can divide them into three groups. The first group concerns the vision of the political system, the second group - the social and economic development way. The third group is an ideological component, a system of values, which is enshrined in the Constitution,” the MP added.
The first group contains proposals to adjust the powers of the president, the parliament and the government, the electoral system. The second group includes proposals on further development of the country, definition of its foreign and domestic policy, social and economic guarantees. The ideological component comprises ideas about family and religion.
“These are proposals for the transition from the majority to the mixed voting system, the issues related to working terms for government bodies. There is also a proposal to abolish the death penalty. This is quite a serious discussion on this topic. There is a proposal to introduce the post of the human rights commissioner in the country. Such an institution exists in the world practice, and our citizens are also thinking about it. It is a person who will be entitled to participate in the resolution of certain legal disputes and conflicts,” Svetlana Lyubetskaya said.
She also mentioned proposals related to national symbols and state languages (English is suggested to be added to Russian and Belarusian), and the prohibition for foreigners to adopt Belarusian children. There is a proposal to grant early retirement to mothers or fathers with many children.
Some provisions are considered as part of amendments to the main law of the country. Other ideas, according to the MP, should be analyzed from the point of view of revising the corresponding normative legal acts.
“Dialogue platforms worked well at the first stage. There were active discussions there. The information obtained from these platforms will be used in the work on the draft law,” the MP added.
The deadline for receiving proposals has been extended for an indefinite period of time.
