2. Geography of Belarus
• Location: Eastern Europe, east of
Poland
• Official name: Republic of Belarus
• Area:
▫ Total: 207,600 sq km
▫ Country comparison to the world: 86
▫ Land: 202,900 sq km
▫ Water: 4,700 sq km
• Area – comparative: Slightly smaller
than Kansas
• Land boundaries:
▫ Total: 3,306 km
▫ Neighboring countries: Latvia 171 km,
Lithuania 680 km, Poland 605 km,
Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km
6. Introducing Belarus’ political system
• The political system of Belarus functions in a structure of a presidential republic with
a rubber stamp parliament.
• The President of Belarus serves as the head of state.
• The government exercises executive power; at the top of the government sits the PM,
named by the President.
• Legislative power is de jure vested in the bicameral parliament, the National
Assembly.
• Conversely, the president may pass declarations that are carried out in the same
manner as laws, for unquestionable time.
• Belarus’ statement of independence (dated 27 July 1990) did not result from long-
held political ambitions, rather from responses to domestic and foreign events.
• Ukraine’s statement of independence especially convinced the government of then
Belarusian SSR to recognize that the Soviet Union was close to collapsing, which it
did in December 1991.
7. Introducing Belarus’ political system –
cont.
• After a Republic was established on 25 August
1991 – four months ahead of the Soviet Union’s
termination – Stanislav Shushkevich was
chosen to be the first Belarusian leader, holding
the position until the first presidential election
in 1994; during that brief time frame,
Shushkevich led his nation in a manner that
would liberate it from its Soviet past and
attempt to look towards the West.
• His successor, Alexander Lukashenko,
overturned those reforms when he took office
in 1994, and turned his interest away from the
West and back to Russia.
• During his tenure, Lukashenko also restored
Soviet era functions, reinstating the icons of
Soviet Belarus.
• Still in power, Lukashenko has caused
increased attention on his country by reason of
his governing, which is regarded as
authoritarian by some and a dictatorship by
others.
8. Government of Belarus
• Capital (and largest city): Minsk
• Official languages: Belarusian,
Russian
• Demonym: Belarusian
• President: Alexander Lukashenko
• Prime Minister: Mikhail
Myasnikovich
• Legislature: National Assembly
• Upper house: Council of the
Republic
• Lower house: House of
Representatives
9. List of Belarus’ political parties
• Belaya Rus (Белая Русь)
• Agrarian Party (Аграрная партыя, Agrarnaya
Partya; ртия)
• Belarusian Socialist Sporting Party (Беларуская
сацыяльна-спартыўная партыя, Belaruskaya
Satsyialistychna-Spartywnaya Partyia)
• Communist Party of Belarus (
сі, Kamunistychnaya Partyia
Belarusi; Коммунистическая партия Белоруссии,
Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Belorussii)
• Liberal Democratic Party (Лібэральна-
дэмакратычная партыя; Либерально-
демократическая партия, Liberal'no-
Demokraticheskaya Partiya)
• Republican Party of Labour and Justice
(Рэспубліканская партыя працы і
справядлівасьці; Республиканская партия труда
и справедливости)
• Belarusian Patriotic Party (Belaruskaya
Patryiatychnaya Partyia)
10. National Assembly of Belarus
• The National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus is the bicameral parliament that rules Belarus.
• The National Assembly’s two chambers are:
▫ Council of the Republic – The upper house
▫ House of Representatives – The lower house
• Though every chamber has certain responsibilities, both chambers have the ability to prohibit the decrees
of local governments that move away from the Constitution of Belarus.
• The National Assembly’s chambers are assembled to two usual sessions per year: the first sessions begins
on 2 October and its length may not be over 80 days; the second session begins on 2 April and does not
meet for over 90 days.
• Both the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic can be called together to an
unexpected session; unexpected sessions are called under a specific outline by a proposal of the President
or by a demand of at least a two-thirds majority of the full membership of every chamber.
• Any bill must be initially judged in the House of Representatives and in the Council of the Republic
afterwards.
• According to the Constitution, any bill that affects the state budget must be signed by the president or by
the government before it is voted on.
• It replaced the Supreme Soviet of Belarus in 1996.
11. National Assembly of Belarus: Fraction
Fraction Number of Deputies
• Block Alexander Lukashenko • 102
• Communist Party of Belarus • 8
12. Alexander Lukashenko
• Born 30 August 1954 in Kopys.
• 1st President of Belarus; took office on 20 July 1994.
• Prior to his political career, he worked as supervisor of a
state-owned agricultural farm, spending time with the
Soviet Border Troops and the Red Army.
• When he first entered political life, he was regarded as a
victor against corruption; he was the only delegate to
vote against Belarus’ independence from the Soviet
Union.
• Under Lukashenko’s rule, the Belarusian government’s
behavior has been condemned in reports by global non-
government organizations for violating human rights and
international law.
• Belarus has been described as “the last true remaining
dictatorship in the heart of Europe” by both former and
current European and American leaders.
• He and other Belarusian leaders are also the target of
sanctions inflicted by the European Union and the
United States for human rights violations off and on
since 2006.
• His domestic policies resemble those of the ex-Soviet
Union, preserving government ownership of major
industries and slowing the privatization seen in other ex-
Soviet republics.
13. Mikhail Myasnikovich
• Born 6 May 1950 in Novy Snov.
• Current PM of Belarus, having been
nominated by President Alexander
Lukashenko after the 2010 presidential
election.
• Graduated from the Brest Engineering and
Construction Institute in 1972 and from the
Communist Party School in Minsk in 1989.
• Has a PhD in economics and has worked as
an engineer in the construction industry.
• Also speaks English and has a son,
daughter, and two grandchildren.
• Served as head of the Administration in the
President’s Office (1995-2001) and
chairman of the National Academy of
Sciences (2001-2010).
14. Communist Party of Belarus
• Communist political party in Belarus.
• Founded in 1996; backs President Alexander
Lukashenko’s government.
• Its leader is Igor Karpenko.
• Proposed merging with the Party of Communists of
Belarus (PKB) on 15 July 2006.
• While it is a pro-Lukashenko party, it is one of Belarus’
key opposition parties.
• According to Sergey Kalyakin, the PKB’s leader, the “re-
unification” of the two parties was a plot to expel the
opposition PKB.
• As an affiliate of the world Communist movement, the
KPB benefits from ties to other communist parties in the
region and in the world to a bigger degree than the PKB,
which many in the region have judged as “pro-Western.”
• Won 5.99% and 8/110 seats in the House of
Representatives during the 2004 parliamentary
election, but only won 6 seats in 2008 and even less in
2012 with 3 seats.
• Yet, due to the party’s endorsement for President
Lukashenko, 17 of its affiliates were nominated by him
in the upper house, the Council of the Republic, in 2012.
15. Liberal Democratic Party
• Pan-Slavist, right-wing populist political
party in Belarus.
• Was founded in 1994 as the Belarusian
successor of the Liberal Democratic Party of
the Soviet Union.
• Backs President Alexander Lukashenko.
• Acquired 1/110 seats in the 13-17 October
2004 legislative election.
• Adheres to an ideology similar to that of the
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and
supports unification of Russia and Belarus.
• Sergei Gaidukevich, its nominee at the 2006
presidential election and its leader, obtained
3.5% of the vote.
• Notwithstanding its name, Pippa Norris
portrayed the party as a radical organization
committed to restoring the U.S.S.R. and has
no democratic characteristics.