The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko assented on Wednesday to comprehensive amendments to the law “On the President of the Republic of Belarus,” which tightened the requirements for a presidential candidate within the country.
Under the amended law, only a person aged 40 years or older, who is a citizen of the Republic of Belarus by birth with the right to vote, is eligible to stand for presidential elections. In addition, the candidate needs to be a permanent resident of the state for at least 20 years before the election and should not have (or had) citizenship, residence permit or any document granting them benefits of a foreign state. This makes it impossible for the political leaders who have fled the country to run for the presidential elections.
The text of the amended law also dictated the status of the former presidents of the country, stating that “a president who has ceased to exercise his powers cannot be held accountable for actions committed in connection with the exercise of his presidential powers.” This gives Belarusian presidents lifelong immunity from prosecution and ensures that “his honor and dignity are protected by law.”
The amended law also detailed the powers of the president. According to it, the president possesses the competence to submit proposals to “the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly on the election of chairmen, their deputies and judges of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, the Chairman and members of the Central Election Commission” and the prospect of sending military personnel outside the state to foster “international peace and security.”
In December 2023, upon the assembly’s adoption of the amendments, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a Belarusian political leader who fled the country in 2020, condemned the law. She said:
With the new law, Lukashenka aims to shield himself from legal prosecution because he already fears an inevitable future. After all, the actions he has taken in the last 30 years are punishable not just by a fine. Evidence of his crimes is enough for a prison sentence lasting decades.
In August 2020, Lukashenko won his sixth term as president in a landslide victory. The nation witnessed mass protests as people claimed election fraud. The EU rejected the results of the election and imposed sanctions against “individuals responsible for violence, repression and the falsification of election result.” There were alleged violations of human rights throughout the electoral process, and the protesters and political dissidents faced massive repercussions from the Belarusian authorities.
Under the 30-year reign of Lukashenko, the freedom of expression within Belarus remains severely restricted in the country as several websites, new outlets and Telegram groups have been blocked and reported as “extremist.” As per the US Embassy in Belarus, Belarus holds over 1,500 political prisoners “for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms in pursuit of Belarusian democracy for protesting, a fraudulent election, or for opposing Russia’s war against Ukraine.” In July 2023, the UN expressed its concern about the country and said that the human rights conditions have been deteriorating “steadily” since 2020.
