We decide together with the whole country

The Belarusian People’s Congress is a backbone for the people and for the authorities, that is why the approach to its formation is a nationwide issue

Last week, the public discussion of the bill ‘On the Belarusian People’s Congress’ was completed. The preparation of this document started immediately after the constitutional referendum and proceeded as openly as possible: in addition to parliamentarians, members of the Constitutional Commission, representatives of the judiciary, civil society, scientists, and experts took part in it. All proposals received in a generalised form will be transferred to the organiser of the public discussion — to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly. As the Head of State stressed at a meeting on October 20th, this bill must be adopted no later than March 2023.

The discussion will not end with this

Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko emphasised, speaking at a seminar-meeting in Lida on November 2nd, “The discussion will not end with this. The work will continue, although about 150 proposals have already been submitted. They are accumulated by the National Centre for Legal Information, some are sent to the House of Representatives. 
I think that the bill will pass the first reading by the end of the year and will have the second reading at the beginning of next year. Nevertheless, we try to get more opinions, collect more suggestions. The effectiveness of the political system of Belarus will depend on how significant the changes in the bills on the Belarusian People’s Congress and the Electoral Code will be.”
According to Vladimir Andreichenko, the bill on the Belarusian People’s Congress has been thoroughly prepared, was considered twice at the level of the President. Nonetheless the grassroots voice is important, “It is not hard to explain the attention of the people to these changes. They see that the world has entered an era of severe turbulence. And no one can predict how it will all end. One thing is clear: there is no return to the old times. 
Only that nation will stand where there will be unity, where there will be democracy. Therefore, the citizens of the country have matured the idea that it is they who will be able to contribute to the governance of the country through the Belarusian People’s Congress.”

Any imbalance is not allowed

Indeed, the need for unity and democracy is the most important requirement not only for the political system of our country, but also for its society as a whole. Head of the Belarus President Administration Igor Sergeyenko drew attention to this matter during an earlier meeting with the city’s activists and workers of Naftan, “Upon instructions of the Head of State we’ve come to inform you about the changes happening in Belarus, including in economy, and report the threats originating from abroad and from the collective West. We’ve come to talk about the barriers that worry us due to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. We would like you to distill as much truth as possible from our communication and from the analysis of the situation we have offered. Most importantly, everyone should calmly keep doing their jobs. All of us should care for our own security.”
Head of the President Administration emphasised, 
“Today the matter of unity of worker collectives and the society as a whole has never been more important. Any imbalance of the system (not only the power vertical but the system as a whole in the regions, in worker collectives) can result in chaos, poorer manageability, and slackness. This is why we need discipline at all workstations and with regard to everyone.”

Strict requirements

But to whom it is tabooed to take part in the Belarusian People’s Congress? Secretary of the Central Election Commission Yelena Baldovskaya gave an explanation on this matter at the dialogue platform in the Belarusian Republican Collegium of Advocates, “The bill of the Electoral Code contains a requirement for the delegates of the Belarusian People’s Congress, similar to the requirements for candidates for the post of President.”

The requirements are that a person who wants to become a delegate of the Belarusian People’s Congress must not have the citizenship of a foreign state and other documents such as a Pole’s card, which provide a number of benefits on the territory of a foreign state. Therefore, the general message is the presence of suffrage and the absence of documents that bind a person to a foreign state. This is if we talk about the subjects of civil society.
It is also assumed that only members of public associations with the right to vote will be able to participate in the nomination and in the election of delegates to the Belarusian People’s Congress. Secretary of the CEC explained, “We may have citizens of the Russian Federation in many public organisations (they work at enterprises, etc.). Only citizens of Belarus will be able to participate in the formation.”
At the same time, Yelena Baldovskaya did not rule out that the number of organisations that have the right to nominate their candidates for Belarusian People’s Congress delegates will increase by the day the Belarusian People’s Congress is formed.

Constructive proposals

Director of the National Centre of Legal Information Andrei Matelsky spoke about some of the proposals received during the discussion of the bill on the Belarusian People’s Congress on the Belarus 1 channel, “These proposals are different. Citizens propose to consolidate more principles for organising the activities of the Belarusian People’s Congress in the bill. For example, such as the rule of law. There are proposals to ensure the participation in the work of this body of former prime ministers and chairmen of regional executive committees, the Minsk City Executive Committee, who have ceased their powers. There were questions about fixing the norm that delegates from civil society can participate in the work of the Belarusian People’s Congress for no more than two terms in a row. Two proposals were related to fixing in the bill the norm that the Belarusian People’s Congress should take part in the election of the President of our country.”

The importance of dialogue

The main work on the discussion of the two most important bills was not even at the Legal Forum of Belarus, but at dialogue platforms. However, it revealed an important trend, voiced by Andrei Matelsky, “Communicating with the organisers of these events, we saw that there are fewer questions from people about what the Belarusian People’s Congress is, what it will be like. Today, people are more concerned about the practical aspects of these laws, the legal status of delegates. At the Legal Forum of Belarus we already saw more professional, legal communication…”

By Maksim Osipov
Photo by Anton Stepanishchev, Aleksey Bibikov