MINSK, 25 May (BelTA) – MPs have voted for the parliament's address to the Belarusian president with a request to submit a bill to the House of Representatives on amending the Constitution, which provides for the possibility to hold elections to the local councils of deputies of the 29th convocation simultaneously with the elections to the House of Representatives of the 8th convocation. The decision was adopted at the meeting of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus of the seventh convocation, BelTA has learned.
“Based on the resolution of the 6th Belarusian People's Congress, an active work is currently underway in the country to prepare amendments to the Constitution. The Constitutional Commission established by the head of state is currently busy summarizing the suggestions and working out possible variants of the constitutional norms. The final decision on the amendments to the Basic Law of the country will be taken by the Belarusian people at the national referendum in early 2022,” said Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee on State Construction, Local Government and Regulations of the House of Representatives Viktor Svillo.
According to him, a significant number of incoming proposals concern the possibility of establishing a single voting day. “If citizens support the draft Constitution, which will enshrine the norm of introducing a single voting day, the local councils of deputies elected in January 2022 will exercise their powers until the next parliamentary elections in 2023. This will be something more than a year and a half. This will entail additional budgetary and organizational costs and will negatively affect the efficiency of the deputy corps,” the MP said.
Viktor Svillo recalled that the issue was discussed at the joint session of the houses of the Belarusian parliament, and also at the meetings of the Standing Committees of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic. “A proposal was made to extend the term of office of the local councils of deputies of the 28th convocation until the next elections to the House of Representatives. This is possible if the National Assembly adopts the law on amending the Constitution of Belarus. In view of the above-mentioned we suggest addressing the head of state with a request to introduce a bill to the House of Representatives under Article 138 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, providing for the possibility of elections to the local councils of deputies of the 29th convocation to be held simultaneously with the elections to the House of Representatives of the 8th convocation,” he added.
Photos by Egor Pavlyushchik
