The All Belarusian People's Assembly (Belarusian: Усебеларускі народны сход, Russian: Всебелорусское народное собрание) is a general meeting of the Belarusian Government with industry leaders and other top officials from every sector of the government.

History

The first Assembly was held October 19–20, 1996, a few weeks before the controversial referendum which was used to legitimize the concentration of power in the hands of president Alexander Lukashenko.[1] The second Assembly took place in May 2001, the third in March 2006, the fourth in 2010, the fifth in 2016, and the sixth in 2021.

Criticism

Members of the Belarusian opposition are actively criticizing the Assemblies for allegedly being propaganda events organized to demonstrate unanimous support to the country's authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.[2] Members of the opposition have regularly been denied access to the Assembly or prevented from speaking at it.[2] In 2006, presidential candidate and former rector of the Belarusian State University, Alyaksandr Kazulin, was beaten and detained by police after attempting to enter the All Belarusian People's Assembly. He was charged with disorderly conduct and released after being held in custody for eight hours.[3]

Opposition parties have characterized the Assemblies as an "unconstitutional body" whose aim was to "delegitimize the institute of parliament in Belarus" and to "demonstrate nationwide support [to Alexander Lukashenko] ahead of the presidential elections".[4]

Critics describe the procedure of appointing delegates to the Assembly as non-transparent[5] and undemocratic, similar to the procedure of appointing delegates to the Congresses of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during Soviet times.[2]

The critics point out that the Assembly "cannot be accepted as a legitimate expresser of the will of the Belarusian people. It was formed by orders of the executive bodies and is not a representative democratic body. Given that only and exclusively supporters of the policies of the current government will be present at the so-called Assembly, this body is unable to accomplish the task of national consolidation."[4]

References

  1. ↑ "The President of the Republic of Belarus Home page, Administration of the President of Belarus HOME PAGE on WWW Belarus - native, independent WWW server from Byelorussia". Archived from the original on 3 January 2006.
  2. 1 2 3 Вайтовіч і Ганчарык: Усебеларускі сход — фігавы лісток для ўлады Archived 2021-01-28 at the Wayback Machine [Vaytovich and Hancharyk: The All-Belarusian Assembly is a fig leaf for the government] - TUT.BY, 03.12.2010
  3. ↑ Zarakhovich, Yuri (25 March 2006). "Belarus: 'They Knocked My Husband Down and Dragged Him Away'". Time. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  4. 1 2 Беларусам патрэбны сапраўдны парлямэнт, а не імітацыйны ‘усенародны сход’ Archived 2016-08-07 at the Wayback Machine - "Belarusians need a real parliament and not the imitational 'People's Assembly'", statement by BPF Party, 18.06.2016
  5. ↑ Михаил Пастухов: О легитимности и пользе собрания - Mikhail Pastukhou (former Judge of the Constitutional Court of Belarus): About the legitimacy and the use of the congress - Official website of the United Civic Party of Belarus, 12.07.2016
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