Aliaksandr Lukashenka defended on Thursday the controversial reform that gave the head of state sweeping powers.
The reform, which was approved through a referendum in 1996, curtailed the powers of the country's legislature.
Speaking at the final meeting of the outgoing National Assembly in Minsk, Lukashenka said, “The volume of the powers of the legislature is determined by our country's constitution approved through the all-people's referendum. The Belarusian people made the fundamental choice in favor of a strong government, a strong presidential republic.”
Referring to the reform, Lukashenka said that it had been originated by the legislature itself in the 1990s. “It is the legislature that gave up [its powers] by approving the amendments to the constitution,” he said.
Lukashenka reiterated his criticism of the Belarusian legislature's activity before the reform. “Those were years of a noisy parliamentary show. The Supreme Soviet's sittings had a rowdy and amusing atmosphere, but did this endless idle talk amuse our people, who were not paid wages and pensions for months, froze in their houses and did not know what would be tomorrow? The government must not amuse the people.”
He stressed that “not a single country in the world” had ever managed to “build a state through parliamentary procedures.” Only a strong government is capable of creating the foundation for an emerging nation and secure opportunities for modernization, he said.
Lukashenka announced that the Belarusian government was facing a “colossal, historic task of modernizing the country, ensuring Belarus' breakthrough into the elite club of highly developed nations.”
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