Lukashenko convenes a referendum to take the post of president of Belarus again

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree on October 17 a referendum on the issue of amendments to the Constitution of the country.

"The question of the referendum is one: do you allow the first president of the Republic of Lukashenko to participate as a presidential candidate in the election of the head of state and whether you accept part 1 of the article 81 of the Constitution in the following edition: the president is elected for 5 years directly on the basis of universal free, equal, direct polling against secret voting," said Lukashenko, acting on Tuesday in the evening with a television thing to the Belarusian people.

“Why will a popular referendum take place on October 17? As you know, on this day elections to the Belarusian parliament are a major political and responsible campaign,” Lukashenko said.

According to him, the elections "how to mobilize, unite society, and distract it from pressing problems." "In order to avoid such a distraction, not to tear you off from fulfilling the tasks facing you, it was decided to combine the elections and referendum," the head of state said. Moreover, he said, "we can avoid additional costs by combining these two events."

"As I promised you earlier, in the case of my decision to participate in the 2006 presidential election, I will surely consult with you and ask for your permission. I do so," Lukashenko said.

“I did not play various schemes and combinations, I act honestly and, as always, openly. And when I asked you, they always supported me. And it was thanks to the complete understanding between the head of state and the people that we have achieved certain results in our development,” the president of Belarus emphasized.

Lukashenko was elected President of Belarus in July 1994, gaining 80.4% of votes in the second round of the election of the head of the republic.

On September 9, 2001, Lukashenko was re -elected for a second term, gaining 75.6% of votes in the first round of the presidential election.

In the Constitution of Belarus, it is written that the same person may be the president of no more than two terms.

As Interfax told in the Constitutional Court of Belarus, "constitutional norms can be changed in two ways: by holding a referendum or parliament." At the same time, amendments to the Constitution relating to the institution of presidency are possible only through a referendum.

In turn, the Central Election Commission of Belarus said that the decision to change the number of presidential terms can be made only by holding a referendum with subsequent amendments to the Constitution.

The initiator of the referendum may be the president, parliament, or initiative group of citizens - at least 450 thousand people.

Lukashenko’s performance was broadcast by all Belarusian television channels and radio stations. On a large screen in the center of Minsk, several thousand people were listened to, who were driven to the "spontaneous" rally in his support. Several hundred people came to the Oktyabrskaya Square of Minsk - mostly young people shaved hungry, who called themselves cadets.

According to Khartya'97 , they all study in the so -called "military legal" classes of Minsk secondary schools and consist in the Belarusian Republican Youth Union - BRSM, which is the receiver of the Komsomol of Belarus. Subsequently, more adult "representatives of the population" pulled up on the square. The number of participants in the action reached several thousand people.

Journalists noted a large concentration of the police of law enforcement officers around the square - mainly Minsk riot police in the form and civilian. Their actions were personally commanded by the commander of the Minsk riot police like, as well as the leadership of the Soviet RUVD and the Minsk City Police.

After Lukashenko announced the date of the referendum, several representatives of the unregistered right -wing opposition youth organization "Young Front" expressed a negative attitude to the decision of the President of Belarus. According to Interfax, law enforcement agencies detained one of the heads of the organization of Dmitry Dashkevich.