MINSK, 30 November (BelTA) - Belarus is carrying out a constitutional reform to strengthen its statehood, not to please anyone, political scientist Aleksandr Shpakovsky said on the air of the Belarus 1 TV channel on 28 November, BelTA has learned.
“There is a serious misconception about the constitutional reform in inside and outside of Belarus. It is believed that the Belarusian state is carrying out the reform in order to please someone, to appease someone. This is not the case. The president announced the constitutional reform two years before the election. Its aim is to strengthen the Belarusian state,” Aleksandr Shpakovsky noted.
The government invites people holding an alternative point of view to dialogue and offers them the opportunity to participate in the process of governing the country. However, not everyone takes advantage of this opportunity. “Their task is not to strengthen the Belarusian state. Their task is to weaken it. They understand that by reforming the Constitution the state will grow stronger and they will not be able to destabilize it. Therefore, they are trying in every way to disrupt this constitutional reform and mislead people, to encourage them to take to the streets,” Aleksandr Shpakovsky noted.
According to Chairman of the Board of the Belarusian Union of Journalists Andrei Krivosheyev, many opponents of the Belarusian authorities have withdrawn from the dialogue. “This is the modus operandi of foreign agents (by the U.S. classification). Some of the opponents of the current government who represent opposition parties do take part in the dialogue and thus increase their chances of becoming part of the history of the Belarusian statehood. For this, however, they are facing harassment,” the head of the Belarusian Union of Journalists said.
