Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko is a Belarusian politician who has been the president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994. This makes him the longest-serving European president.
Belarus elects on national level a head of state—the president—and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly has two chambers. The House of Representatives has 110 members elected in single-seat constituencies elected for a four-year term. The Council of the Republic has 64 members, 56 members indirectly elected and eight members appointed by the president.
The House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus is the lower house of the parliament of Belarus, while the upper house is the Council of the Republic. It was established after the Constitution of Belarus was amended in 1996, replacing the Supreme Council of Belarus.
The All-Belarusian People's Assembly, or ABPA, is the highest organ of state power of the Republic of Belarus. Established in 1996, it was granted wide-reaching powers as a result of the 2022 Belarusian constitutional referendum and has since become the primary organ of the Belarusian government.
A seven-question referendum was held in Belarus on 24 November 1996. Four questions were put forward by President Alexander Lukashenko on changing the date of the country's independence day, amending the constitution, changing laws on the sale of land and the abolition of the death penalty. The Supreme Council put forward three questions on constitutional amendments by the Communist and Agrarian factions, local elections and the national finances.
Belaya Rus is a Belarusian political party which was initially founded as a public association on 17 November 2007 to support President Alexander Lukashenko.
The government of Belarus is criticized for its human rights violations and persecution of non-governmental organisations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians. In a testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Belarus as one of the world's six "outposts of tyranny". In response, the Belarusian government called the assessment "quite far from reality". During 2020 Belarusian presidential election and protests, the number of political prisoners recognized by Viasna Human Rights Centre rose dramatically to 1062 as of 16 February 2022. Several people died after the use of unlawful and abusive force by law enforcement officials during 2020 protests. According to Amnesty International, the authorities didn't investigate violations during protests but instead harassed those who challenged their version of events. In July 2021, the authorities launched a campaign against the remaining non-governmental organizations, liquidating at least 270 of them by October, including all previously registered human rights organizations in the country.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 19 December 2010. The elections had originally been planned for the beginning of 2011. However, the final date was set during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly on 14 September 2010.
The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko, whom supporters of the movement often consider to be a dictator. Supporters of the movement tend to call for a parliamentary democracy based on a Western model, with freedom of speech and political and religious pluralism.
Viktor Aleksandrovich Lukashenko or Viktar Alyaksandravch Lukashenka is a Belarusian politician and the eldest son of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. He currently serves as the president of the Belarus Olympic Committee. Previously, he served as a national security advisor to his father, the president of Belarus.
Dmitry Aleksandrovich Lukashenko or Dzmitry Alyaksandravich Lukashenka is a Belarusian businessman. He is the second-oldest son of Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August.
Hanna Anatolyeuna Kanapatskaya or Anna Anatolyevna Kanopatskaya is a Belarusian politician, former MP, lawyer, entrepreneur and candidate in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. She is also a former parliamentary deputy, represented the United Civic Party of Belarus from 1995 to 2019 and served as an MP from 2016 to 2019. She is known for her political campaign on calling Belarus to be freed from Russian interference.
The Coordination Council for the Transfer of Power is a non-governmental body created by presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to facilitate a democratic transfer of power in Belarus. The council, founded during the 2020 Belarusian protests in response to the disputed 2020 Belarusian presidential election, has 64 core members with a 7-member leadership presidium.
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in 2025 under the terms of the constitution. The president is directly elected to serve a five-year term.
A constitutional referendum was held in Belarus on 27 February 2022. The referendum was ordered by President Alexander Lukashenko in January 2022. According to political analysts, changes to the Belarusian constitution were intended to solidify the power of Lukashenko's regime after the mass protests in 2020 and 2021, which challenged his rule and was brutally suppressed by police. More than 35,000 people were arrested, 1,070 of whom are acknowledged political prisoners. The changes to Constitution allow Lukashenko to remain in office until 2035 and empower the All-Belarusian People's Assembly, an extra-parliamentary body dominated by government supporters. The changes also renounced Belarus's nuclear-free zone status, allowing Belarus to host nuclear weapons for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union; the lead-up to the referendum occurred as Russia amassed its troops in both Russia and Belarus in the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the election itself was held several days after Russia began its military offensive into Ukraine.
The National Unity Day is a state holiday in Belarus celebrated on September 17 and marks the unification of the Western Belarus and Eastern Belarus which happened on September 17, 1939, the day of the Soviet invasion of Poland during World War II. It was established by the June 7, 2021 Decree No. 206 by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. The day of the holiday remains a working day.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has supported its eastern neighbour in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before the start of the offensive, Belarus allowed the Russian Armed Forces to perform weeks-long military drills on its territory; however, the Russian troops did not exit the country after they were supposed to finish. Belarus allowed Russia to stage part of the invasion from its territory, giving Russia the shortest possible land route to Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. However, these forces withdrew within two months, thus ceasing land-based military operations originating from Belarus and resulting in the recapture of the Ukrainian side of the border region by Ukraine. Despite this, the situation along the border remains tense, with Ukraine closing the border checkpoints leading into Belarus, bar special cases.
The 7th All-Belarusian People's Assembly was a convention of the All-Belarusian People's Assembly, including government officials, members of state-owned enterprises, and other individuals held from 24 to 25 April 2024 in the Palace of the Republic, Minsk. The first such conference since the 2022 Belarusian constitutional referendum that established it as the "highest representative organ of the people's government of [...] Belarus", media associated with the Belarusian opposition largely described it as a further consolidation of absolute power by President Alexander Lukashenko.
The Chairman of the All-Belarusian People's Assembly is the chief executive of the All-Belarusian People's Assembly. Among the most powerful positions in Belarus since its 2024 establishment, the chairman is entrusted with overseeing the activities of the ABPA and its Presidium. The current Chairman of the All-Belarusian People's Assembly is Alexander Lukashenko, who has held the position since its establishment on 24 April 2024 and is constitutionally mandated to hold the position until 2035.
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