A referendum on the new Constitution of Belarus can be held in at least 11 months or a year. President Alexander Lukashenko announced the approximate dates, summing up the results of the VI All-Belarusian People’s Assembly, BelTA informs.
The head of state believes that the referendum should be combined with local elections in the country for economic reasons. “I think it will be okay, there will be some savings,” he said.
Elections of local Councils of Deputies in Belarus should be held no later than January 18, 2022, according to the plans of the CEC. Earlier, the head of the Central Election Commission, Lydia Yermoshina, urged to combine them with a referendum on the constitution.
On February 11, speaking at the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly, Lukashenko said that the draft of the new Constitution would be prepared during this year, and it should be submitted for discussion at the beginning of 2022. After that, as the President noted, the issue of his resignation from the post of the head of state will begin to be resolved. Earlier, he announced that he would resign only after the adoption of the new edition of the country’s main law.
In November, during a visit to Minsk, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reminded at a meeting with Lukashenko that the Kremlin expects constitutional reforms from Belarus, which were agreed upon at the meeting of the leaders of the two countries in Sochi. “You came up with a number of initiatives that, I believe, are very important for the Belarusian society. As President Putin has repeatedly stressed, we are interested in these initiatives being implemented,” Lavrov said then.