ABM -- EELM, July, 1996

This File Last Updated: 1997/08/08
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EAST EUROPEAN LEGISLATIVE MONITOR

BELARUS -- JULY 1996, vol. I, no. 4

BILLS
Mass Media
Manager of Bankruptcy Procedures
Creation of New Employment Opportunities

NEW LAWS
Amendments to the Law "On the Supreme Soviet"
Amendments to the Law "On the Presidency"
Amendments to the Law "On the Cabinet of Ministers"
Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses
Deploying Military and Police Personnel Abroad for International
Military Exercises and Peace-Keeping Operations

RULES AND PROCEDURES
Decree: On the Motion of the Constitutional Court "On the Status of
    the Rule of Law in the Republic of Belarus in 1995"
Creation of Investigative Committees

POLITICAL PARTIES
Belarus Popular Front Initiates Protests
Lack of Political Diversity in Supreme Soviet
Dissatisfaction with Presidential Policy within Pro-Presidential
    Groups
Ratification of the Belarusian-Russian Treaty


FACTS
Republic of Belarus

Constitution: Ratified March 15, 1994

Head of State: Alyaksandr Lukashenka

Government: Cabinet of Ministers; formed 1994. President nominates
prime-minister, MP prime ministers, and ministers. Nomination of
prime minister, MP prime ministers, minister of foreign affairs,
minister of finance, minister of defense, minister of internal
affairs, and chief of secret service must be confirmed by the Supreme
Soviet.

Parliament: Supreme Soviet; 260 seats (199 MPs have actually been
elected, another 61 are expected to be elected in November).

Major parties in the Parliament: Accord (not a political party per
se, rather a grouping of pro-presidential MPs), 62 seats (32
percent); Agrarian Party (AP), 46 Seats (23.3 percent); Belarusian
Communist Party (BCP), 45 Seats (22.2 percent); Labor Union (LU), 18
Seats (9.1 percent); Civic Action (CA), 18 Seats (9.1 percent); 10
MPs are independents.

Last Parliamentary Elections/Next: December 1995/November 1996 (for
the election of unfilled seats)/2000 (the next general election).

Parliamentary Electoral Formula: majority system with 260
single-member seats; election in two rounds, winner must win majority
of registered voters in district.

Legislative Procedure: Initiative: MPs, standing committees of the
Supreme Soviet, president, Supreme Court, Supreme Commercial Court,
general prosecutor, Chamber of Control, National Bank, 50,000
registered voters. Adoption requirements for bills: constitutional
provisions: 2/3 majority, normal bills: simple majority; President
has veto, which may be overridden with 2/3 majority.


BILLS

The bill ON MASS MEDIA was drafted in order to promote the
dissemination of information concerning activities of all state
bodies in the state mass media. The bill entitles the speaker of the
Supreme Soviet, members of the Constitutional Court, ministers,
representatives of parliamentary groups, and members of parliament to
address the public through the state mass media. Until now, only the
president had this power.

Art. 31.5 provides that: "State TV and radio organizations are
obliged at least once a month to provide the opportunity for
representatives of parliamentary groups to address the public. The
duration of an address shall be at least 30 minutes. Upon the demand
of MPs, the program can be broadcast live without preliminary
recording."

The bill ON MANAGERS OF BANKRUPTCY PROCEDURES defines the
competencies of the person appointed as a manager of bankruptcy
procedure. Under this bill, the manager would be appointed by the
Commercial Court in compliance with the law "On Bankruptcy." Art. 2
of the bill states objectives to be fulfilled by the manager,
including: "protection of the rights and interests of all creditors
as well as that of the debtor," and the article regulates the
procedure for the liquidation of the bankrupt legal person.

The bill ON THE CREATION OF NEW EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES is a largely
impotent piece of legislation which mainly concerns state programs
for the development of small and middle-sized businesses. The bill
declares the necessity to develop these types of businesses, however
it does not provide any real mechanism to encourage such development.


NEW LAWS

The AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW "ON THE SUPREME SOVIET" were passed in a
package of other constitutional laws. The amendments revise Art. 35.2
to read: "the decision of the president to announce a state of
emergency in the country is valid only after approval by the Supreme
Soviet of the Republic of Belarus."

Art. 65.2 provides for the broadcasting of parliamentary sessions,
and establishes the responsibility of the state mass media officials
for violation of their duties: "The decision of the Supreme Soviet
regarding information about its activity mandates the live
transmission of parliamentary sessions on radio and TV by the state
mass media and state mass media officials are held responsible for
non-fulfillment of this decisions."

The amendment to Art. 110 was adopted in order to guarantee
additional protection for former MPs opposed to the current
government: "In order to prevent prosecution for political and civic
activities, former members of the Supreme Soviet can be charged
criminal or administrative  crimes only by sanction of the General
Prosecutor of the Republic of Belarus."

AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW "ON THE CABINET OF MINISTERS" give the speaker
of the Supreme Soviet, members of the Presidium, and chairmen of
standing Supreme Soviet committees the right to participate in
sessions of the Cabinet of Ministers and ministerial meetings. Thus,
in theory, parliamentary leaders will now be able to influence the
activities of the executive branch.

AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW "ON THE PRESIDENCY" concern presidential
elections in case the office becomes vacant before the regularly
scheduled election. According to Art. 14.2, "Presidential elections
shall be undertaken not earlier than 30 days and not later than 70
days after the presidential position becomes vacant."

The LAW ON DEPLOYING MILITARY AND POLICE PERSONNEL ABROAD FOR
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY EXERCISES AND PEACE-KEEPING OPERATIONS
requires Supreme Soviet approval for any such deployment (Art. 1).
The personnel to be deployed must also give their consent in writing
(Art. 2).

AMENDMENTS TO THE CODE OF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFENSES bring the code in
line with the new amendments to the law "On the Supreme Soviet " and
the bill "On Mass Media" to ensure the disclosure of information
regarding governmental activities. These amendments provide sanctions
for officials who fail to comply with disclosure requirements.


RULES AND PROCEDURES

Considerable tensions between the three branches of power in Belarus
pushed the Supreme Soviet to adopt the Decree "ON THE MOTION OF THE
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT: "ON THE STATUS OF THE RULE OF LAW IN THE
REPUBLIC OF BELARUS IN 1995." In its motion, the Court bemoaned what
it perceived as the absence of the rule of law and constitutional
order in Belarus.

According to the motion, "the Constitutional Court deems the present
situation regarding the rule of law in the Republic unsatisfactory.

The separation of powers principle has not been implemented in
reality. As a result of the illegal expansion of the power of the
executive branch, the proper authority of the other branches has been
undermined. In several cases, laws have been substituted for by
contrary regulations, which has caused governmental officials to
violate laws, and has confused the public."

The Court also expressed concern that previous decisions of the
Court, which invalidated 11 presidential decrees (including "On
Reformation of the Structure of Local Authorities and Self-Governing
Bodies," "On Details of the 1995 Budget and Budget Cuts," and  "On
Measures to Ensure Stability and Legal Order") and unconstitutional
provisions in several laws ("On Foreign Investments," and the
Criminal Code), have been ignored by the President, the Supreme
Soviet, and other governmental officials. The Court called on the
Supreme Soviet to enforce the motion as well as its previous
decisions.

In the decree, the Supreme Soviet concurred with the Court's
conclusions and adopted several enumerated measures to put the motion
into  effect. These included amendments to the laws invalidated by
the Court; elaboration of the program designed to bring legislation
in compliance with the Constitution; the adoption of a law to enforce
Court decisions and impose sanctions on governmental officials who
ignore them; and the adoption of a law "On the Drafting, Adoption,
and Promulgation of Laws and Regulations in the Republic of Belarus."

The Supreme Soviet set up two ad hoc committees to investigate two
related events in recent Belarusian politics. The committees are to
address the arrest of Supreme Soviet MP Pavel Znavec, and the mass
demonstrations which took place in Mensk, March-May 1996. Znavec was
beaten and arrested by the police, despite his parliamentary
immunity, during an April 26 demonstration.


POLITICAL PARTIES

Political events which took place in Mensk over the last three months
have revealed the real strength of the Belarusian Popular Front
(BPF), the largest political party in Belarus. The fact that BPF does
not hold a single seat in the Supreme Soviet is a clear reminder that
the Supreme Soviet does not entirely reflect popular preferences. Of
the more than 3.5 million voters, more than 1 million cast their
votes for BPF candidates. However, due to the majority system
electoral system (where a candidate must take the majority of votes
within a district to be elected), the 50 percent voter participation
requirement, and the total media monopoly enjoyed by the government,
elections could not be completed in the majority of electoral
districts in Mensk and other major cities (including Brest and
Grodna), where most of the BPF candidates were running.

Together with other opposition forces (including the Social
Democratic Party, Gramada, and other liberal organizations), the BPF
initiated a number of demonstrations and civil actions against
presidential policy and the Belarusian-Russian Treaty. As a result,
the BPF is in danger of being banned for the initiation of
unsanctioned rallies. The issue of an arrest warrant forced BPF
leader Zianon Paznyak into exile; Liavon Barshcheuski was
subsequently elected as acting head of the party.

The current political makeup of the Supreme Soviet does not allow
it to be an effective check on the power of the president in Belarus.
The largest parliamentary group--"Accord"--consists of former members
of President Lukashenka's administration or other officials loyal to
him. Together with BCP and AP, they constitute an overwhelming
majority (77.5 percent) in the Supreme Soviet.

BCP consists of former officials of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union-Communist Party of Belarus, which ceased to exist in
1991.  After the fall of the Soviet Union, the new Belarusian
Communist Party was established with the old party's property. The
Agrarian Party represents officials of different agrarian
enterprises, especially collective farms (kolkhoz) and soviet farms
(sovkhoz). Supreme Soviet Speaker Syamyon Sharecki leads the AP bloc.

These parliamentary groups have blocked bills to establish a
market economy and private property, while encouraging President
Lukashenka's moves to create an alliance with Moscow. However, the
coalition is not monolithic. Some of Lukashenka's recent actions have
provoked a negative reaction even within the coalition. For instance,
Sharecki criticized presidential attempts to impose sole control over
all branches of power and speed up the creation of confederation or
federation with Russia. Instead, Sharecki proposed that Belarus
follow the European Union model of interstate integration with the
preservation of state sovereignty.

Parliamentary opposition is represented by only two small parties:
the social democratic bloc, called Labor Union (LU), and the liberal
Civic Action (CA) party (total 18.2 percent). LU adheres to classical
social democratic economic and political principles, advocating a
socially oriented market economy. CA calls for radical, free-market
reforms. These two groups initiate market reform bills, protest human
rights violations, and seek to preserve Belarus's independence and
sovereignty.

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