MINSK, December 23. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that a referendum on amendments to the Constitution will be held in the second half of February.

"The referendum will be held in the second half of February," Lukashenko said at the final meeting with members of the commission and working group for amendments to the Constitution on Thursday," the BelTA news agency reports.

After the nationwide public debate on the draft, the working group will meet in session once again "to take a look at what fundamental proposals have been made by the people." Then there will follow the final session of the Constitutional Commission.

"When the draft is ready and the Constitutional Commission has scrutinized the results produced by our working group and approved them, a referendum will follow," Lukashenko said.

The draft of a new constitution will be made public for discussion in a day or two. The published draft will not be final.

"It will become final when we have discussed the people’s proposals," he explained.

As far as the dates are concerned, Lukashenko specified that at the end of January or early February, "the final draft of the Constitution will be reshaped once again after the public debate and then put to the vote in a referendum in the second half of February."

"This will be convenient: we will not distract the people. In wintertime, there is less work to do in small towns and in rural areas. In big cities as well," he said.

Amid the protests that followed Belarus' August 9, 2020, presidential election Lukashenko said the Constitution should be amended and expressed the readiness to redistribute part of the presidential powers in favor of other government agencies. Under the proposed amendments Belarus will retain presidential rule. The powers and functions of the head of state, parliament, and government will be specified. The Cabinet of Ministers will be given broader powers and become more independent in making executive decisions. The All-Belarus People’s Assembly, originally created as a special form of government by the people, is to be turned into a constitutional body and given more functions.