MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2021) Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader and a former presidential candidate, said on Wednesday that her team wants to introduce a constitutional amendment to limit the presidency to two four-year terms.
As of now, a president in Belarus is elected for 5-year terms and the number of terms is unlimited. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said earlier in January that a draft of a new constitution will be ready by the end of the year, and then citizens will vote on it in a referendum. Meanwhile, the opposition announced that it had already prepared its draft electoral code and a draft constitution.
"Alexander Dobrovolski, an adviser [to Tikhanovskaya] on political issues, highlighted five main principles and merits of the new constitution," the opposition leader said on her official website, adding that the principle, named control of power by the people, includes a proposal to "limit the number of terms in the office, for the president � two terms of four years."
Other principles are related to the separation of power, including independence of parliament and the judiciary branch, a guarantee of the rule of law, and the protection of citizens by the state and local governments.
Belarus plunged into a prolonged political crisis following the August 9 presidential election, which Lukashenko won according to the official results. The opposition did not recognize the results, claiming that Tikhanovskaya was the real winner. The political crisis is still ongoing, although the scale of the opposition rallies has decreased over time.
The former candidate fled to Lithuania following the presidential election and has since met with foreign officials to discuss ways to settle the crisis in in her home country.
