LUKASHENKO'S BID FOR THIRD PRESIDENTIAL TERM ILLEGAL

2001-09-06

According to the Constitution, a person cannot be elected president for more than two terms. This brings up the question whether Lukashenko is running for the second or the third term. According to the current Constitution, he is claiming for the third term.

Lukashenko was elected Belarus' president in June 1994. His first five-year term began after he was sworn in. By November 1996, Lukashenko had become dissatisfied with the Constitution because it limited his power ambitions. He began violating its provisions. The Constitutional Court declared Lukashenko's acts of law illegitimate in 18 instances as violating human rights and freedoms. Facing impeachment in autumn 1996, Lukashenko staged a national referendum, the adoption of a new Constitution being the main issue.

The adoption of a new Constitution was legally controversial. It was legal to amend the Constitution, but not to adopt a new Constitution at the referendum. Therefore the presidential lawyers came forward with an intricate proposal to adopt a "new wording" of the Constitution. On November 4, 1996, the Constitutional Court ruled that the voting results of the referendum were not binding. The voting ballot contained a reference to the Court's decision. Lukashenko challenged the Court's decision and ordered that the voting results were binding.

Thanks to heavy government propaganda, pressure on people to vote ahead of the voting day and ballot-rigging, Lukashenko's proposal was eventually adopted at the referendum. Two days after the voting, the new wording of the Constitution took effect.

Under the cover of the referendum, Belarus' authorities took over power in a coup. Legitimate bodies of power - parliament, the cabinet and supreme courts - were disbanded and formed anew under the new pseudo-Constitution. It was then that Lukashenko lost the constitutional right to be Belarus' president.

Ironically, the new Constitution did an ill service to Lukashenko because it terminated de jure his first term in office. This conclusion ensues from two articles of Chapter 9 of the 1996 Constitution.

Article 141 says that the Constitution, with amendments and alterations adopted at national referendum, becomes effective from the day of publication, i.e. November 27, 1996. Under Article 144, Belarus' president shall retain his powers. "The presidential tenure starts from the day of putting the Constitution in force", Article 144 says.

Despite the verbal muddle, the Constitution clearly states that the president retains his powers without reelection. The fact that he was not sworn in for the second time does not change it.

Nevertheless, the enacting of a new Constitution terminated Lukashenko's first term. In violation of the democratic traditions, Lukashenko started the second presidential term on the basis of the illegal Constitution.

One may object that the 1996 Constitution simply extended Lukashenko's term by two years. But under Article 81 of the Constitution the presidential term lasts five years. Under Part 2 Article 357 of the Criminal Code ("Takeover or retention of power in an unconstitutional manner"), the extension of the presidential term is a constituent element of crime against the state, entailing 10 to 15 years of imprisonment. But it is legal to cut the presidential term, as Lukashenko actually did in 1996 to his first five-year term.

Lukashenko drove himself in a legal trap having extended his powers through the controversial referendum. He put in force a new Constitution instead of making amendments to it (naturally, amendments could not prolong the president's term without holding new elections). Lukashenko refused to run for reelection in May 1999, when his five-year term expired. He chose to start a new term in November 1996. This term is coming to an end now. He has no legal grounds to make the third bid. He can retain power only by force, in an illegal manner.

Lukashenko ought to withdraw from the race. The CEC ought to strip him of the presidential candidate's certificate. Lukashenko has no right to be Belarus' president for the third time.