{"id":11467,"date":"2022-08-31T11:26:59","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T08:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/lukasenka-wants-parties-ngos-at-his-service\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"lukasenka-wants-parties-ngos-at-his-service","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11467\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka wants parties, NGOs at his service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t * Reproduction is allowed\n<\/p>\n<p>\n <b><span>The Belarusian government is drafting bills to outlaw opposition parties and civil society groups that do not support its policies, Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka indicated on August 30.<\/span><\/b>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Only pro-government parties likely to remain<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The Belarusian leader said that the main requirement for the registration and activities of public associations and political parties should be their \u201cconstructive partnership with the authorities\u201d and compliance with the policy approved by the All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly, a regular gathering of officials loyal to the Belarusian leader, had its powers expanded under the new Constitution adopted in February. The basic law also allows the head of state to serve as chair of the All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly at the same time.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The policies to be drafted and approved by the Assembly are likely to be based on \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s commands. If political parties are required to follow its decisions, any opposition will be illegal.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka stressed that the government should block off subversive parties. \u201cIt is good that we know them by name.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The remarks suggests that the government is likely to shut down the remaining opposition parties soon.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Pro-government associations<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka is definitely planning to expand the system of government-organized non-governmental organizations.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The governments already runs a number of GONGOs, including the Belarusian National Youth Union, the Belarusian Women\u2019s Union, the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus and associations of veterans.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Belarusian ruler sees these organizations as the pillars of \u201cour civic society.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He stressed that legislation governing civil society should prevent \u201cthose who seek to cripple the country from inside\u201d from infiltrating these associations.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The government has shut down, or is in the process of closing down, at least 519 non-governmental organizations since July 2021, BPN reported. More than 300 were forced to terminate operation.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka seems determined to banish NGOs that crop up from grass roots.\n<\/p>\n<h2>All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly expected to be superloyal<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Traumatized by 2020 post-election protests, the Belarusian leader is building a totalitarian regime.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He expects absolute fealty from parties and associations because they will supply some delegates to the All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Only big organizations that have at least 100,000 members will be eligible to send delegates.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In August, only the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, Be\u0142aja Ru\u015b, the Belarusian National Youth Union, the Belarusian Women\u2019s Union and the Association of Veterans met this criterion.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The new system erects a wall between the ruling bureaucracy and ordinary people.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Direct elections may be abolished<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t At the August 30 meeting, \u0141uka\u0161enka expressed regret that the Constitution did not include a provision that the president should be elected at the All-Belarusian People\u2019s Assembly.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He said that the provision might still be added. He seems to realize that voters no longer back him. He is afraid of elections, which he said destabilize the country.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He cited China as an example of a system he would like to have in Belarus.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cDoes [Chinese President] Xi Jinping, who is elected at the National People\u2019s Congress today, have no authority? He does, more than me and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin combined. I was afraid that we would take away the people\u2019s right. But today I feel that we should have lived that life. We would have gone through it&nbsp;to work peacefully. And the parliament would have been elected in constituencies. We have missed it, but this is not a disaster. We will return to it if necessary, but not now. Maybe it is not us who will go back to it,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He no longer casts himself as a popular leader elected by the people.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cAfter all, politics, party activities and so on are also professional work. Are our seven plus million voters so immersed in all these processes to make a conscious choice?\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka asked. He added that the assembly could represent all social groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN * Reproduction is allowed The Belarusian government is drafting bills to outlaw opposition parties and civil society groups that do not support its policies, Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka indicated on August 30. Only pro-government parties likely to remain The Belarusian leader said that the main requirement for the registration and activities of public [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-11467","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u0141uka\u0161enka wants parties, NGOs at his service | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN * Reproduction is allowed The Belarusian government is drafting bills to outlaw opposition parties and civil society groups\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11467\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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