{"id":11525,"date":"2023-01-31T18:36:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T15:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/authorities-working-on-legislation-to-modify-political-system\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"authorities-working-on-legislation-to-modify-political-system","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11525\/","title":{"rendered":"Authorities working on legislation to modify political system"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n <b><span>After enacting a new constitution last year, the Belarusian government continues to revamp the political system to roll back democratic freedoms.<\/span><\/b>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Opposition parties on verge of closure<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t On January 30, the Council of the Republic adopted bills that would govern political parties, civil society organizations and the All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The legislation would require all political parties to re-register. Observers say that authorities might take advantage of the re-registration requirement to close down the remaining opposition parties.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Meanwhile, Bielaja Ru\u015b, a pro-government association groomed as a party of power a few years ago, plans to launch a political party, its leader, Aleh Ramana\u016d said earlier this month.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The other pro-government parties \u2013 the Communist Party of Belarus and Aleh Hajdukievi\u010d\u2019s Liberal Democratic Party \u2013 are unlikely to be affected despite stringent re-registration requirements.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The amendments would raise the minimum membership required to register a political party to 5,000. Parties would be required to have chapters in each region and in Minsk, including in at least one-third of districts and cities in all regions and in one in three Minsk districts.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t U\u0142adzimir \u0160anca\u016d, acting chairman of the United Civic Party, told <span>Narodnaja Vola<\/span> that the UCP would disband because it has just around 3,500 members. He added that it would be impossible to expand amid the relentless government crackdown on the opposition.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t UCP Chair Mikalaj Kaz\u0142o\u016d and other leaders have been sent to prison for alleged participation in 2020 post-election protests.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Political competition to be limited<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The bill would require political parties to comply with the basic policy and security principles approved by All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Therefore, political parties would not be able to promote alternative visions. Political competition would be impossible in principle. Only parties that support Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka and his policies would be allowed to operate.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Political parties would not be directly represented at the All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly. Therefore, the Belarusian ruler sees parties as a secondary element of the political system.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Government-established and pro-government associations would be able to nominate up to 400 delegates to the Assembly.\n<\/p>\n<h2>All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Natalla Ka\u010danava, chair of the upper house, said on January 30 that the All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly would make important decisions in \u201ccritical moments\u201d for the nation.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d, a Belarusian political analyst, says that the assembly, which he sees as superfluous and unnecessary element with an ambiguous role, would only add to instability during a succession crisis.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The constitutional and political reform gained traction during the sociopolitical unrest that followed the disputed presidential election of 2020 as \u0141uka\u0161enka sought to entrench his personalist authoritarian regime after narrowly escaping ouster.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Draft legislation does not provide for direct elections for the All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly. At one point, \u0141uka\u0161enka considered giving the assembly powers to select presidents, but he changed his mind later.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Observers say that \u0141uka\u0161enka is likely to become the assembly\u2019s chair in 2024 while remaining the head of state.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Opposition parliament<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Meanwhile, the opposition have been reforming their prototype parliament called Coordination Council.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t It will be a successor to the Coordinating Council for Political Crisis Settlement that was established during 2020 protests to negotiate power transfer from \u0141uka\u0161enka to the opposition.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Belarusian strongman refused to deal with it and forced its members out of the country.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t It would be impossible to hold a general election for the Coordination Council. The revamped council is unlikely to have much influence on developments in Belarus, so it may struggle to reach out to voters in the country.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Coordination Council, supposed to add the parliamentary dimension to the opposition camp, has been criticized for affiliation with Sviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s office and her United Transitional Cabinet.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN After enacting a new constitution last year, the Belarusian government continues to revamp the political system to roll back democratic freedoms. Opposition parties on verge of closure On January 30, the Council of the Republic adopted bills that would govern political parties, civil society organizations and the All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[24],"class_list":["post-11525","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Authorities working on legislation to modify political system | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN After enacting a new constitution last year, the Belarusian government continues to revamp the political system to roll back\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11525\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Authorities working 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