President Alexander Lukashenko guarantees vote on proposed reforms to his workplace’s powers, state media reviews.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated on Thursday the nation will maintain a referendum on his advised constitutional reforms, the Belta state information company reported.
Lukashenko, who has confronted weekly protests since claiming victory in an August 9 election his opponents say was rigged, didn’t say when such a referendum could be held.
The 66-year-old’s feedback got here as he addressed members of workers at Belarus’s Nationwide Utilized Analysis Heart for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, Belta reported.
Lukashenko has been in energy since 1994 and claimed a sixth time period in workplace with nearly 80 % of the vote in August’s ballot, in line with official outcomes.
Dealing with the largest disaster of his rule following the election, he has overseen a sweeping crackdown on peaceable anti-government protests and dissent within the ex-Soviet republic.
However he has additionally advised constitutional reforms, backed publicly by conventional ally Russia, that would clip presidential powers.
Earlier this week, on Monday, Lukashenko stated {that a} Nationwide Meeting of unelected delegates would meet in February for the primary time since 2016 as a part of his reform plan.
Lukashenko has given few particulars till now over the attainable constitutional reforms, however stated that selections to redistribute present presidential powers could possibly be taken at a gathering of the Nationwide Meeting.
The political physique has no formal energy itself, however Lukashenko has stated it could possibly be given authority quickly.
The physique often meets each 5 years and brings collectively a number of thousand delegates whose candidacy is put ahead by native state councils, pro-Lukashenko events and teams of employees within the Soviet-style command economic system.
Lukashenko’s political opponents, probably the most outstanding of whom have been jailed or fled the nation, have dismissed the reform proposals as a stalling tactic to assist him journey out the protests and wider political disaster.
Police have used stun grenades, tear gasoline and truncheons to disperse the rallies, and hundreds of individuals have been imprisoned and brutally crushed.
Lukashenko’s alleged vote-rigging and the crackdown on Belarusian protesters have prompted america and the European Union to introduce sanctions towards the nation’s officers.