Short facts about the government of Belarus
| Country
name: |
conventional long
form: Republic of Belarus
conventional short
form: Belarus
local long form: Respublika
Byelarus'
local short form: none
former:
Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist
Republic |
| Government
type: |
republic |
| Administrative divisions: |
6 voblastsi (singular - voblasts') and
one municipality* (harady, singular - horad); Brestskaya (Brest), Homyel'skaya
(Homyel'), Horad Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna), Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow),
Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk); note - when using a place name with the
adjectival ending 'skaya' the word voblasts' should be added to the place
name
note: voblasti have the administrative center name following
in parentheses |
| Independence: |
25 August 1991 (from Soviet
Union) |
| National
holiday: |
Independence Day, 3 July (1944); note -
3 July 1944 was the date Minsk was liberated from German troops, 25 August 1991
was the date of independence from the Soviet
Union |
| Constitution: |
30 March 1994; revised by national
referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and
became effective 27 November 1996 |
| Legal
system: |
based on civil law
system |
| Suffrage: |
18 years of age;
universal |
| Executive
branch: |
chief of state:
President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)
head
of government: Prime Minister Vladimir YERMOSHIN (since 18 February 2000);
First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey KOBYAKOV (since 13 March 2000); Deputy Prime
Ministers Mikhail DEMCHUK (since 14 July 2000), Mikhail KHORSTOV (since 27
November 2000), Valeriy KOKOREV (since 23 August 1994), Leonid KOZIK (since 4
February 1997), Gennadiy NOVITSKIY (since 11 February 1997), Aleksandr POPKOV
(since 10 November 1998)
cabinet: Council of
Ministers
elections: president elected by popular vote for a
five-year term; first election took place 23 June and 10 July 1994 (next to be
held NA; according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been
held in 1999, however LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via the November 1996
referendum); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the
president
election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO elected
president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 85%, Vyacheslav KEBICH
15% |
| Legislative
branch: |
bicameral Parliament or Natsionalnoye
Sobranie consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats)
and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Pretsaviteley (110
seats)
elections: last held October 2000 (next to be held
NA)
election results: party affiliation data unavailable; under
present political conditions party designations are
meaningless |
| Judicial
branch: |
Supreme Court (judges are appointed by
the president); Constitutional Court (half of the judges appointed by the
president and half appointed by the Chamber of
Representatives) |
| Political
parties and leaders: |
Agrarian Party or AP [Semyon SHARETSKY,
chairman]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [Viktor CHIKIN, chairman];
Belarusian Ecological Green Party (merger of Belarusian Ecological Party and
Green Party of Belarus) [leader NA]; Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian
Patriotic Party) or BPR [Anatoliy BARANKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Popular
Front or BNF [Vintsuk VYACHORKA]; Belarusian Social-Democrat or SDBP [Nikolay
STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party Hromada [Stanislav
SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Socialist Party [Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic
Accord Bloc (United Civic Party) or CAB [Stanislav BOGDANKEVICH, chairman];
Liberal Democratic Party or LDPB [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH, chairman]; Party of
Communists Belarusian or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN, chairman]; Republican Party of
Labor and Justice or RPPS [Anatoliy NETYLKIN, chairman]; Social-Democrat Party
of Popular Accord or PPA [Leanid SECHKA]; Women's Party Nadezhda [Valentina
POLEVIKOVA, chairperson] |
| Political
pressure groups and leaders: |
NA |
| International organization participation: |
CCC, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, IAEA,
IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Inmarsat, Intelsat (nonsignatory user),
Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO
(observer) |
| Diplomatic
representation in the US: |
chief of mission:
Ambassador Valeriy TSEPAKLO
chancery: 1619 New
Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
telephone: [1] (202)
986-1604
FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805
consulate(s)
general: New York |
| Diplomatic
representation from the US: |
chief of mission:
Ambassador Michael KOZAK
embassy: 46 Starovilenskaya
St., Minsk 220002
mailing address: use embassy street
address
telephone: [375] (17) 210-12-83
FAX: [375]
(17) 234-7853 |
| Flag
description: |
red horizontal band (top) and green
horizontal band one-half the width of the red band; a white vertical stripe on
the hoist side bears the Belarusian national ornament in red | Source: World Factbook |
