Draft amendments to Belarus' Constitution to be submitted to president before 1 September

“Since the presence of uncoordinated comments of the commission members indicates the actual incompleteness of the work, the president instructed the Constitutional Commission to provide a comprehensive revision of the relevant proposals and submit the final version of the draft Constitution to the head of state by 1 September 2021,” said Piotr Miklashevich.

The Constitutional Commission chairman added that on 9 August during the Big Conversation press conference the president expressed his opinion regarding some of the amendments to the Constitution, which are of fundamental importance. First, it is advisable to preserve the constitutional provision on the aspiration of the Republic of Belarus for neutrality in modern conditions. The second point pertained to the constitutional status of the Belarusian People's Congress and its role in the system of the state power.

Piotr Miklashevich stressed that in this connection it was suggested to consider the changes of Article 18 when coordinating the changes of other constitutional norms. A possible variant of the amendments to the above-mentioned norm has been suggested. It has also been suggested to hold additional discussions of the proposed constitutional provisions on the Belarusian People's Congress.

The Constitutional Commission convened for its regular meeting on 11 August to consider editorial revisions to the Basic Law, developed by the Constitutional Commission, based on the comments of the members of the Commission.