Europe > Eastern Europe > Belarus > Belarus Government Profile

Belarus: Belarus Government Profile

2015/09/04

Lukashenka Aliaksandr Ryhoravich, Lukashenko Aleksandr Grigor'yevich

From 1975 to 1977 he was a political instructor in the Armed Forces, and from 1977 to 1978 he Worked at the Communist Youth Committee of the Mahiliou City Food Chamber of Commerce.

From 1978 to 1990 was the executive secretary of the Shklou regional branch of the organisation Knowledge, and also headed the collective farm Udarnik and the state farm Haradzets, was a deputy director of a building materials plant in Shklou.

From 1990 to 1994 was a deputy in the Supreme Council. In Parliament, he headed the temporary committee of the Supreme Council for the official campaign Fight Against Corruption. Won the presidential election in 1994. Re-elected in the elections in 2001, 2006 and 2010, which were not considered as fair or free by the EU and the US.

Under the constitution of 1996, Belarus is a parliamentary democracy. The legislative body is a two-house parliament, consisting of an upper house, the 64 member Council of the Republic, and a lower house, the 110 member House of Representatives. The head of state is the president who is popularly elected. The head of government is the prime minister, who is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.

There are six provinces in Belarus, namely Brest, Homyel, Hrodna, Minsk, Mahilyow, and Vitsyebsk, each governed by a local provincial council. The president also appoints regional executives, who in their turn elect local executives to govern the regional and local councils.

The judicial system of Belarus includes the Constitutional Court, which is the highest court of Belarus, apart from the Supreme Court and the provincial, city, and district courts.

The Belarusian army is made up of about 95, 000 members, and all men above the age of 18 are required to serve 18 months.

The area of modern Belarus was settled by East Slavic peoples before 800 A.D. It was ruled by Kiev from the 9th to the 12th century, and thereafter splintered into separate principalities. Early in the 14th century, it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which merged with Poland in 1569. Late in the 18th century, Russia acquired the region through the three partitions of Poland—1773, 1793, and 1795.

The region was devastated by the Napoleonic invasion of 1812 and again in World War I. After the war, Poland and Russia fought for control of the region. By the Treaty of Riga, 1921, Poland acquired the western portion of the region while Russia retained the eastern portion.

In 1922 the eastern portion was made a union republic of the Soviet Union as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The entire region was occupied by Germany during most of World War II. After the war, the Polish portion of the region was incorporated into the Byelorussian S.S.R. As a concession by the Western Allies to secure Soviet cooperation in establishing the United Nations, the Byelorussian S.S.R., although part of the Soviet Union, was admitted to the organization as a charter member with a separate vote.

During 1990–91, rising nationalism throughout the union republics gradually eroded the authority of the Soviet central government. In 1991 the Byelorussian S.S.R. declared itself independent and changed its name to Republic of Belarus. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Belarus achieved independence. Also that year, Belarus joined the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 1992, in an international agreement, Belarus promised to relinquish its nuclear weapons. Belarus and Russia signed an agreement in 1996 that established close political and economic ties.

Country name

Conventional long form:

Republic of Belarus

Conventional short form:

Belarus

Local long form:

Respublika Byelarus'

Local short form:

Byelarus'

Government type:

republic in name, although in fact a dictatorship

Capital

Name:

Minsk

Geographic coordinates:

53 54 N, 27 34 E

Time difference:

UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

Administrative divisions:

6 provinces (voblastsi, singular - voblasts') and 1 municipality* (horad); Brest, Homyel' (Gomel), Horad Minsk* (Minsk City), Hrodna (Grodno), Mahilyow (Mogilev), Minsk, Vitsyebsk (Vitebsk) note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers; Russian spelling provided for reference when different from Belarusian

Independence:

25 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union)

National holiday:

Independence Day, 3 July (1944); note - 3 July 1944 was the date Minsk was liberated from German troops, 25 August 1991 was the date of independence from the Soviet Union

Constitution:

15 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996; revised again 17 October 2004 removing presidential term limits

Legal system:

based on civil law system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage:

18 years of age; universal

Executive branch

Chief of state:

President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)

head of government:

Prime Minister Sergey SIDORSKIY (since 19 December 2003); First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir SEMASHKO (since December 2003)

Cabinet:

Council of Ministers

Elections:

president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; first election took place on 23 June and 10 July 1994; according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999, however, Aleksandr LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via a November 1996 referendum; subsequent election held on 9 September 2001; an October 2004 referendum ended presidential term limits and allowed the president to run in a third election, which was held on 19 March 2006; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president

Election results:

Aleksandr LUKASHENKO reelected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 82.6%, Aleksandr MILINKEVICH 6%, Aleksandr KOZULIN 2.3%; note - election marred by electoral fraud

Note:

Legislative branch:

bicameral National Assembly or Natsionalnoye Sobraniye consists of the Council of the Republic or Sovet Respubliki (64 seats; 56 members elected by regional and Minsk city councils and 8 members appointed by the president, to serve four-year terms) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Predstaviteley (110 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: Palata Predstaviteley - last held on 28 September 2008 (next to be held in the spring of 2012); international observers determined that despite minor improvements the election ultimately fell short of democratic standards; pro-LUKASHENKO candidates won every seat election results: Sovet Respubliki - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; Palata Predstaviteley - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party – NA

Judicial branch:

Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president); Constitutional Court (half of the judges appointed by the president and half appointed by the Chamber of Representatives)

Political parties and leaders :

pro-government parties: Belarusian Agrarian Party or AP [Mikhail SHIMANSKY]; Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Nikolay ULAKHOVICH, chairman]; Communist Party of Belarus or KPB [Tatsyana HOLUBEVA]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Sergey GAYDUKEVICH]; Republican Party of Labor and Justice [Vasiliy ZADNEPRYANYY] opposition parties: Belarusian Christian Democracy Party [Pavel SEVERINETS] (unregistered); Belarusian Party of Communists or PKB [Sergey KALYAKIN]; Belarusian Party of Labor [Aleksandr BUKHVOSTOV] (unregistered); Belarusian Popular Front or BPF [Aleksey YANUKEVICH]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Hramada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH]; Belarusian Social Democratic Party Hramada or BSDPH [Anatoliy LEVKOVICH]; Belarusian Social Democratic Party Narodnaya Hramada [Nikolay STATKEVICH] (unregistered); Belarusian Women's Party Nadzeya ("Hope") [Yelena YESKOVA, chairperson]; Christian Conservative Party or BPF [Zyanon PAZNIAK]; Party of Freedom and Progress [Vladimir NOVOSYAD] (unregistered); United Civic Party or UCP [Anatoliy LEBEDKO]

Political pressure groups and leaders:

Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs (unregistered) [Sergey MATSKEVICH]; Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions [Aleksandr YAROSHUK]; Belarusian Association of Journalists [Zhana LITVINA]; Belarusian Helsinki Committee [Aleh HULAK]; Belarusian Independence Bloc (unregistered) and For Freedom movement [Aleksandr MILINKEVICH]; Belarusian Organization of Working Women [Irina ZHIKHAR]; BPF-Youth [Andrus KRECHKA]; Charter 97 (unregistered) [Andrey SANNIKOV]; Perspektiva small business association [Anatol SHUMCHENKO]; Nasha Vyasna (unregistered) ("Our Spring") human rights center; Women's Independent Democratic Movement [Ludmila PETINA]; Young Belarus (Malady Belarus) [Zmitser KASPYAROVICH]; Youth Front (Malady Front) [Zmitser DASHKEVICH]

International organization participation:

BSEC (observer), CBSS (observer), CEI, CIS, CSTO, EAEC, EAPC, EBRD, FAO, GCTU, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US

consulate(s) general:

<br />

Diplomatic representation from the US

Embassy:

Mailing address:

Flag description:

red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe on the hoist side bears Belarusian national ornamentation in red; the red band color recalls past struggles from oppression, the green band represents hope and the many forests of the country

Belarus News

More >

Trending Articles

by countries
by topic