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Lukashenko hopes Belarusians will support new draft Constitution

To be supported the fundamental law must meet people's needs, the Belarusian leader said

MINSK, May 13. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said at a meeting with the top officials of the Constitutional Commission that the draft of the country’s new Constitution must meet its citizens’ needs, and then it will be supported by them.

"If we want the state to be sincere, honest and just, that’s what the Constitution should be like and that’s the way its approval should be like. If people support the new draft Constitution, this Constitution will become a reality. If they do not support it, well, we have a Constitution. However, we need to make sure that people support our draft of the new Constitution, and it must meet these people’s needs to be supported," the Belarusian leader’s press service quotes him as saying on Thursday.

Amid protests in Belarus that erupted after the August 9 presidential election, Lukashenko again highlighted the need for amending the Constitution and said he was willing to redistribute some of the presidential powers in favor of other branches of government. According to the president, the draft of the new Belarusian Constitution will be ready as early as this year. It is expected to be submitted to nationwide discussion at the beginning of next year.

On March 16, the head of state signed an executive order on setting up the Constitutional Commission comprising 36 people headed by Chairman of the Constitutional Court Petr Miklashevich. The commission must submit proposals on constitutional amendments by August 1 for their subsequent submission to a nationwide referendum.

The Constitutional Commission holds its meetings twice a month. During one of the meetings, Miklashevich said that Belarus would not change the presidential form of government. He did not rule out, though, that powers could be redistributed between various branches of government.