The political framework of Belarus

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders

President: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)
Prime Minister: Roman GOLOVCHENKO (since 4 June 2020)

Next Election Dates

Presidential: 2025
National Assembly: 2027

Main Political Parties

Political parties in support of the President have a strong chance of securing seats during elections. Opposition parties are allowed to participate in elections but usually have no real chance of gaining power. Elections are generally marred by electoral fraud, and in 2019 OECD observers determined that the election was neither free nor impartial, with problems in the counting of the votes. The latest Presidential elections held in 2020 were contested, with numerous countries refusing to accept the results, including the European Union, which imposed sanctions on Belarusian officials.

The current largest political forces represented in the parliament following the 2024 election all support president Lukashenko. They are:

- Belaya Rus: a public association that supports President Lukashenko, Russophilia, Euroscepticism
- Republican Party of Labor and Justice: centre-left, socialism
- Communist Party of Belarus (CPB): left-wing, liaises with numerous other communist parties
- Liberal Democratic Party (LDP): right-wing, conservative.

Other parties/organizations include:

Pro-government:

Belarusian Agrarian Party
Belarusian Patriotic Party
Belarusian Social Sport Party
Republican Party
Social Democratic Party of Popular Accord

Opposition:

Belarusian Christian Democracy Party
Belarusian Party of the Green
Belarusian Party of the Left "Just World"
Belarusian Social-Democratic Assembly
Belarusian Social Democratic Party
Belarusian Social Democratic Party
BPF Party
Christian Conservative Party-BPF
United Civic Party.

Executive Power

The President is the Chief of the State and is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, with no term limits. The President holds executive powers. The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and the Council of Ministers are appointed by the President and approved by the National Assembly.

Legislative Power

The legislature in Belarus is bicameral. The parliament, called the National Assembly, consists of two chambers: the Council of the Republic (the upper house), consisting of 64 seats, out of which 56 members are elected by regional councils and 8 members appointed by the President, all for four-year terms; and the House of Representatives (the lower house), consisting of 110 seats with all of its members elected by universal adult suffrage to serve four-year terms. The people of Belarus have limited political rights.

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

Definition

Definition:

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 158/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:: Not Free
Political Freedom:: 7/7

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

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