Belarus Strongman Sets Feb 27 For Vote On Reforms

The strongman leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday said a vote on constitutional reforms that he promised in the wake of historic protests against his rule would be held February 27

Moscow, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2022 ) :The strongman leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday said a vote on constitutional reforms that he promised in the wake of historic protests against his rule would be held February 27.

Lukashenko, who has been in power for nearly 30 years, first floated possible changes after a presidential vote in August 2020 sparked historic demonstrations that were met with a brutal crackdown.

He claimed a sixth term in the vote and imprisoned leading opposition figures, with his main rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya fleeing to neighbouring Lithuania.

The amendments would reinstate presidential term limits -- previously ditched by Lukashenko -- to two five-year terms, but they would only apply to the next elected president.

Were Lukashenko, 67, to put himself forward as a candidate for re-election in 2025, he could conceivably remain in power for an additional ten years.

The proposed constitutional changes also grant immunity to former leaders for crimes committed during their term in office and would make it legal for Belarus to host nuclear weapons on its territory.

Tikhanovskaya's office in Lithuania hit out at the vote on Thursday saying that a sweeping crackdown on any dissenting voices since the 2020 election made any real discussion of the proposals impossible.

"There are no opportunities for free discussion of the proposed amendments, election commissions are not formed transparently, and independent monitoring of the voting process is impossible," she said in a statement.

"The only possible electoral campaign that meets the interests of Belarusians is the democratic election of a new president according to international standards and only after the release of all political prisoners," she added.

The Viasna rights group says that nearly 1,000 people in Belarus have been incarcerated for political reasons and last month Lukashenko jailed a 43-year-old YouTube blogger who is Tikhanovskaya's husband, Sergai Tikhanovsky, for 18 years.

President Vladimir Putin in 2020 held a vote on constitutional changes that make it possible for him to remain in power until 2036.