Belarus National Government
Figure 10. Government Organization of Belarus, 1995
With the exception of the new office of the president,
the
government structure of independent Belarus had changed
little
from that of the Belorussian SSR
(see
fig. 10). Within the
government, the communist-era mindset also persisted, even
though
the names of office-holders were often different. Because
Lukashyenka and the legislature were frequently at odds,
there
was little agreement or initiative in changing or
improving the
government.
The national government consists of three branches:
legislative, executive, and judiciary
(see
fig. 10). Under
the
constitution, the size of the Supreme Soviet (elected for
a term
of five years) was reduced from 360 to 260 members. It is
the
highest legislative body of state power. Its functions
include
calling national referenda; adopting, revising, and
interpreting
the constitution; scheduling parliamentary and
presidential
elections; electing members of high-level courts, the
procurator
general, and the chairman and members of the board of the
National Bank of Belarus; determining guidelines for
domestic and
foreign policy; confirming the state budget; supervising
currency
issues; ratifying international treaties; and determining
military policy. The role of the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet
was reduced to that of an agenda-setting and
administrative body.
The legislature's two subordinate state committees are the
State
Customs Committee and the State Security Committee.
Any Belarusian citizen who has the right to vote and is
at
least twenty-one years old is eligible to stand for
election as a
deputy. The parliament is elected by universal suffrage.
The president, a position created by the new
constitution, is
elected by popular vote for a five-year term of office and
is the
head of state and of the executive branch of government.
He or
she adopts measures to guard the country's sovereignty and
territorial integrity, appoints and dismisses the chairman
and
members of the Cabinet of Ministers, appoints judges,
heads the
country's National Security Council, and serves as
commander in
chief of the armed forces.
The president can be removed by a two-thirds vote in
the
parliament under certain circumstances, such as violating
the
constitution or committing a crime. However, the president
cannot
dismiss the parliament or other elected governing bodies.
The executive branch also includes the Cabinet of
Ministers,
composed of the heads of Belarus's twenty-six ministries:
administration of state property and privatization;
agriculture;
architecture and construction; CIS matters; communications
and
information technology; culture and the press; defense;
economy;
education and science; emergency situations and the
protection of
the population from the aftermath of the Chornobyl'
nuclear power
station disaster; finance; foreign affairs; foreign
economic
relations; forestry; fuel and energy; health care; housing
and
municipal services; industry; information; internal
affairs;
justice, labor; natural resources and environmental
protection;
social protection; statistics and analyses; trade; and
transportation and communications.
Judicial power is vested in a court system headed by
the
Constitutional Court, which consists of eleven judges who
are
nominated by the president and appointed by the Supreme
Soviet.
The Constitutional Court receives proposals from the
president,
the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, the permanent
committees of
the Supreme Soviet, at least seventy deputies of the
Supreme
Soviet, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Economic Court, or
the
Procurator General to review the constitutionality of
international agreements or obligations to which Belarus
is a
party. The Constitutional Court also reviews the
constitutionality of domestic legal acts; presidential
edicts;
regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers; the constitution;
laws;
legal documents; and regulatory decisions of the Supreme
Court,
the Supreme Economic Court, and the Procurator General.
The
Constitutional Court's decisions are final and not subject
to
appeal.
The mid-level courts are regional courts, and below
them are
district courts. These are presided over by judges
appointed
directly by the president. Trials in all courts are open.
The
parties involved in a case have the right to appeal
judicial
decisions, sentences, and other rulings. However, the
appeal
consists merely of a higher court's review of the protocol
and
other documents of the original trial. In actual practice,
decisions are rarely overturned.
There is a separate system of military courts. Military
judges are appointed directly by the president.
The Procuracy functions like a cross between a police
investigative bureau and a public prosecutor's office. It
investigates crimes, brings criminals to trial and
prosecutes
them, supervises courts and penal facilities within its
jurisdiction, reviews all court decisions in both civil
and
criminal cases, supervises investigations conducted by
other
government agencies, and ensures the uniform application
of law
in the courts.
The Procuracy is headed by the procurator general, who
is
appointed by the Supreme Soviet. The procurator general
then
appoints each officer of the Procuracy, known as a
procurator.
The constitution states that the procurator general and
his
subordinate procurators are to function independently, yet
the
procurator general is accountable to the Supreme Soviet.
Procurators are independent of regional and local
government
bodies because they derive their authority from the
procurator
general. Procurators are generally quite influential
because they
supervise all criminal investigations; courts are
extremely
deferential to the procurators' actions, petitions, and
conclusions.
Data as of June 1995
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