Belarus

I

Communications

The telephone network serviced approximately 336 lines per 1,000 people in 2005, and is in the process of being modernized. A cell phone service, Bel Cel was established in 1993. The printed media is tightly controlled by the state, and censorship has become among the most onerous in the region. The newspaper with the largest circulation is the pro-government Sovetskaya Belorossiya. There were an estimated 3.5 million television receivers and 3 million radio receivers in use in 2000; both the radio and television broadcasting stations are owned by the state. The Russian stations ORT and NTV also broadcast in the country.

V

Government

Following the adoption of a new constitution in 1994, amended in 1996 after a referendum, the Republic of Belarus is a unitary, democratic, social state based on the rule of law. Elections and referendums are conducted by means of universal, free, equal, and secret ballot, with all citizens who have attained the age of 18 years being eligible to vote.

A

Executive and Legislature

The executive is headed by a president who is head of state; among other functions, the president appoints members of the judiciary and is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Technically, the president is elected for a term of five years by universal suffrage, for a maximum of two terms. However, Lukashenka’s first term was extended by two years to 2001 in a 1996 referendum. The referendum also replaced the 260-member parliament, the Supreme Soviet, with a bicameral National Assembly. The National Assembly's two chambers are the 110-member House of Representatives, which is directly elected by universal suffrage, and the 64-member Council of the Republic, of which 56 members are indirectly elected by local councils and 8 appointed by the president. Both are elected to four-year terms. A further referendum in 2004 allowed the president to stand for more than two terms of office.

B

Political Parties

In the elections to the House of Representatives held in October 2000 and March and April 2001 the vast majority of seats (81 out of 110) were won by non-partisans loyal to the president. Political parties represented in the House of Representatives include: the Communist Party of Belarus (KPB; Kommunisticeskaja Partja Belarusi); Agrarian Party of Belarus (APB; Agrarnaja Partja Belarusi); Republican Party of Labour and Justice (RPPS; Respublikanskaja Partja Pracy y Spravyadivasti); Liberal-Democratic Party of Belarus (LDPB; Liberalna-Demokratycnaja Partja Belarusi); Social-Democratic Party of Popular Accord (SDPNZ; Sacyal-Demokratycnaya Partja Narodnaja Zgody); and the Belarussian Socialist Sporting Party (BSSP; Balaruskaja Sacyalistycnaja-Spartynaja Partja). The 2004 elections, in which no opposition candidate won a seat, were widely condemned as being unfair and undemocratic.

C

Judiciary

The tradition of law in Belarus is a long one: the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the third edition of which were published in 1588, were written in Belorussian, and were the first full code of laws written in Europe since Roman Law. The Higher Economic Court and the Constitutional Court are senior courts and the Supreme Court is the court of final appeal. Presidential Lukashenka clashed with the Constitutional Court in November 1996, when he revoked its decision by presidential decree. The independence of the judiciary has been considered questionable since 1996 and independent lawyers were banned from practising in 1997.