{"id":75246,"date":"2024-03-25T10:29:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T07:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"kgb-general-elected-speaker-of-house-of-representatives","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/","title":{"rendered":"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Predictably, Ihar Sierhijenka, former chief of staff at Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s administration, was unanimously elected speaker of the House of Representatives.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Loyalists vote as one<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On March 22, all 109 lower house members voted to elect Maj. Gen. Ihar Sierhijenka, a former first deputy chairman of the Committee for State Security (KGB), as speaker. Vadzim Ipata\u016d, elected deputy speaker, also received 109 votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The voting was confidential, with curtains over the voting booths, which is unusual in today&#8217;s Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The MPs showed extraordinary unanimity, a sign that the selection of loyalists in \u0141uka\u0161enka&#8217;s system has reached its perfection. They will approve any proposals coming from the Belarusian ruler and his government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The parliamentarians obediently rubber-stamp bills submitted by the executive but never propose any legislation of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On March 21, \u0141uka\u0161enka said that 70 MPs represented four political parties. These are four pro-government parties because no others are left in the country. Even the pro-government parties do not get much leeway from the ruler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new Constitution, like the old one, does not provide for elections based on party lists. Parties are not allowed to form parliamentary factions, so affiliation is of no practical significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Sierhijenka failed to manufacture \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s smooth reelection<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Among other things, the newly appointed speaker said that &#8220;the voice of a deputy [MP] should be heard at the international arena, he should further develop international relations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The United States condemned the Belarus\u2019 elections as a sham. The foreign ministries of Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden as well as Ukrainian and German MPs and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe made similar conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sierhijenka is under Western sanctions and banned from traveling to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, the House of Representatives can only boost ties with governments that do not care about democracy and human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sierhijenka was initially sanctioned by the EU for his alleged involvement in the crackdown on government opponents in 2011, when he headed of the Mahile\u016d Regional KGB Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Later, as head of the \u0141uka\u0161enka administration, he came under new sanctions for his alleged involvement in rigging the 2020 presidential election and suppressing protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lukashenka appointed him as the head of his administration in December 2019, hoping that the experienced law enforcer would ensure his smooth re-election for another term. Sierhijenka failed his mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The role of the House of Representatives, already limited to imitating separation of powers, has been further reduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the Constitution, some of its powers have been transferred to the All-Belarusian People&#8217;s Assembly, which is even less representative of the people than the newly elected parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Predictably, Ihar Sierhijenka, former chief of staff at Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s administration, was unanimously elected speaker of the House of Representatives. Loyalists vote as one On March 22, all 109 lower house members voted to elect Maj. Gen. Ihar Sierhijenka, a former first deputy chairman of the Committee for State Security (KGB), as speaker. Vadzim Ipata\u016d, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":74808,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-75246","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","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>KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Predictably, Ihar Sierhijenka, former chief of staff at Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s administration, was unanimously elected speaker of the House of\" \/>\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\/75246\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Predictably, Ihar Sierhijenka, former chief of staff at Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s administration, was unanimously elected speaker of the House of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"752\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/\"},\"headline\":\"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-25T07:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/\"},\"wordCount\":441,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/\",\"name\":\"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-25T07:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"Predictably, Ihar Sierhijenka, former chief of staff at Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s administration, was unanimously elected speaker of the House of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg\",\"width\":1128,\"height\":752,\"caption\":\"\u0418\u043b\u043b\u044e\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u0444\u043e\u0442\u043e: pexels.com \/ Pixabay\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Pozirk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives | Pozirk","description":"Predictably, Ihar Sierhijenka, former chief of staff at Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s administration, was unanimously elected speaker of the House of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives | Pozirk","og_description":"Predictably, Ihar Sierhijenka, former chief of staff at Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s administration, was unanimously elected speaker of the House of","og_url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/","og_site_name":"Pozirk","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","article_modified_time":"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1128,"height":752,"url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Pozirk_online","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/"},"headline":"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives","datePublished":"2024-03-25T07:29:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/"},"wordCount":441,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/","name":"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives | Pozirk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg","datePublished":"2024-03-25T07:29:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00","description":"Predictably, Ihar Sierhijenka, former chief of staff at Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s administration, was unanimously elected speaker of the House of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/sfinks_kosmos_1128_pexels-com_pixabay_002.jpg","width":1128,"height":752,"caption":"\u0418\u043b\u043b\u044e\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u0444\u043e\u0442\u043e: pexels.com \/ Pixabay"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/75246\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"KGB general elected speaker of House of Representatives"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","name":"Pozirk","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization","name":"Pozirk","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Pozirk"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/longreads\/75246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/longreads"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/longreads"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"rubric","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rubric?post=75246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}