The updated Belarusian constitution, adopted in a nationwide referendum on Feb. 27, came into force on Tuesday, March 15. The constitutional amendments to the country’s Basic Law were supported by 82.86% of voters and a total of 78.63% of eligible voters cast. their ballots in the referendum.
According to the Russian news agency, CASS, from now on, the same person cannot be president of Belarus for more than two terms. In addition, presidential decrees will no longer be adopted in the republic. In addition, the age limit for assuming the presidency has been raised to 40 years and, regarding the qualifications for the presidency, a candidate must be a permanent resident of Belarus for at least 20 years immediately before the elections.
At the beginning of March, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed the referendum decision on the constitutional amendments. Minsk considers it symbolic that the new version of Belarus’ Basic Law entered into force on Tuesday, when the country celebrates Constitution Day, timed to coincide with the document’s adoption in 1994.
Russia–Ukraine War
On Tuesday, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko called on Russian authorities to speed up the implementation of necessary measures to support their economy as they are hit by Western sanctions. The Prime Minister urged the Russian authorities to speed up the implementation of the measures during his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow.
In his proposals presented to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Roman Golovchenko called the transfer, restructuring of credit debt on state loans from the government and financial institutions of Russia a “transition to a new pricing system” for Russian oil, according to the transcript of the talks posted on the Russian government’s website. Natural gas in Belarus will be fixed by Russian diplomats in rubles and taking into account current wholesale gas prices in other Russian regions.
Russian PM says imposed sanctions ‘undermine’ economy
Russian Prime Minister Mishustin noted that the West had imposed sanctions on Russia and Belarus and aimed to ‘undermine’ the economy, affect the operations of the financial system and production chains, according to the transcript of the talks published on the Russian government website. Mishustin added that they will strengthen import substitution programs and identify new growth points for the economies of Russia and Belarus.
