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After a visit to Belarus by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, President Alexander Lukashenko reiterated plans for a new constitution and even promised his departure. “With the new constitution, I will no longer work as president,” Lukashenko said, according to the state agency Belta, in Minsk.
The Belarusian ruler, however, left it open when it would have been. Lavrov urged Minsk to address reforms on Thursday.
Lukashenko has now assured that the new constitution will limit the president’s almost unlimited powers. To this end, the roles of parliament and government need to be strengthened. He was critical of the establishment of new parties and of parliamentary elections based on party lists. This would only lead to the formation of interest groups and a division in society.
Since the controversial presidential election on 9 August, after which he was again declared the winner after 26 years in office, there have been mass protests and strikes against him. Lukashenko had repeatedly refused to step down or hand over power.
Minsk political scientist Valery Karbelevich believes Lukashenko will continue to keep all options open. “The announcement that the new constitution will no longer be published is a smoking candle,” he told the dpa news agency. “Lukashenko leaves it open when this constitutional reform will take place and who will implement it”.
Lukashenko has been working for months and is keeping an eye on the election date of 2025. Until then he wants to continue to govern. Everything that was known until now about “secret plans to change the constitution” has not changed, Karbelevitsch pointed out.
The democracy movement led by 38-year-old Svetlana Tichanovskaya continues to demand the resignation of Lukashenko, an end to police violence, the release of all political prisoners and early elections. Tichanovskaya, who is in exile in the EU and seen by many as the real winner of the presidential elections, has called for new protests. Actions against Lukashenko are scheduled again this Sunday in Minsk and other cities.
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