Constitutional reform in Belarus. There is no public dialogue

On March 15, the day when Belarus celebrated the 27th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, Lukashenko took another leisurely step in the promised constitutional reform and convened the Constitutional Commission for its first meeting. The status of this meeting, however, turned out to be strange - the decree on the creation of this body appeared only the next day.

An appendix to Lukashenko's decree on the formation of the Constitutional Commission is a list of its members of 36 people. The commission was headed, which is logical, by the current Chairman of the Constitutional Court Petr Miklashevich, his deputies were the speakers of both houses of parliament, the composition included three deputies from each of them, representatives of local councils (Minsk city, Minsk regional and three from the province), representatives of the real sector economics, head of a small bank, social activists, lawyers, athletes, cultural figures. In general, a little bit of everyone.

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But despite this diversity, there are serious questions about the list of commission members. Firstly, it is “all our own”. Having ensured the diversity of the participants' areas of activity, Lukashenko did not ensure the diversity of their views. Not only is there not a single opposition member on the commission, but there is simply not a single independent politician or expert whose views seriously differ from those officially accepted. Perhaps Yuri Voskresensky with his private shop called “Round Table of Democratic Forces” imitates political alternativeism, but probably no one in the republic believes in the independence of the person called “the mouth of the KGB”.

Of the 15 political parties, only communists are represented in the Constitutional Commission. But, despite the name and attributes, this is a completely loyal party, approving even such initiatives of the Belarusian president that would cause hysterics among real communists.

Even the “Belarusian Zhirinovsky” Oleg Gaidukevich, also loyal, but with his own position on constitutional reform, was not invited. But they called the famous publicist Alexander Shpakovsky, who actively defends Lukashenko on Russian television channels, and the Belarusian-speaking deputy Igor Marzalyuk, who used to admire Poznyak, and now sheds a stingy man’s tear during the speeches of the Belarusian leader.

What is striking is the large crowd – the abundance of people who are little-known, non-public and far from the topic of state building. Agree, it is strange to see on the constitutional commission the head of the cycling federation or the chairman of the board of an agricultural production cooperative, into which all collective farms were once re-registered. Paralympian and motivational coach Alexei Talay is, of course, a positive person, but what does he have to do with constitutional reform?

In general, the Constitutional Commission turned out to be one-sided and unrepresentative. What approximately half of its members will do is absolutely not clear. Unless each symbolizes his own. Voskresensky - the opposition, the chairman of the SPC "Snov" Nikolai Radoman - the villagers, Talay - the disabled. And the role of the commission itself seems rather symbolic. The decision about what the new Belarusian Constitution will be will be made elsewhere and by other people - the closest circle of the Belarusian president.

Actually, the task has already been received from Lukashenko and the newly appointed chairman of the Constitutional Commission Pyotr Miklashevich managed to voice it. First of all, after all. it was decided to push the All-Belarusian Assembly into the Basic Law as the “highest representative body of democracy”, redistribute the powers of the functions and responsibilities of the highest government agencies, strengthen the role of parties, change the electoral system, and promised innovations regarding the socio-economic rights of citizens.

Thus, already at the start of the commission’s work, it was given clearly defined boundaries, beyond which it was impossible to go. This format of work does not provide for any dialogue.