March 15 – Constitution Day

15.03.2023

Constitution Day of the Republic of Belarus is a state holiday celebrated annually in the country on March 15 under the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 157 of March 26, 1998.

The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is the fundamental law of the country, which has the supreme legal force and enshrines the fundamental principles and norms of legal regulation of the most important social relations. The Constitution determines the state structure, fixes the principles of the election system, regulates the formation of government bodies, fixes the rights and duties of the citizens. The Constitution declares the human being and his life the highest value.

The Constitution of Belarus was adopted on March 15, 1994. For the first time in the history of the Belarusian statehood it has fixed the status of the republic as a unitary democratic social state ruled by law, established the principles of democratic system, priority of human rights and freedoms, and supremacy of the international law. In addition to that, for the first time in the history of the country the Constitution provides for the post of the President of the Republic of Belarus in the system of supreme state institutions.

Nowadays the Constitution of 1994 is in force with amendments and additions adopted on the republican referenda on November 24, 1996, October 17, 2004 and February 27, 2022.

First amendments and additions to the Constitution were made as a result of the republican referendum of November 24, 1996, where two drafts were put forward. For the draft, proposed by President Lukashenko, 70.5 percent of the total number of voters voted. For the draft of the Supreme Soviet — 7.9% of the total number of voters. On the basis of the results of the referendum the Constitution was adopted in a new version. In particular, the powers were redistributed between the President, the parliament and the government, and some rights and freedoms were expanded.

The next referendum, where the issues of amendments and addenda to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus were discussed, was held on October 17, 2004. It resulted in deletion of the norm about holding the post of the President of the Republic of Belarus by the same person for no more than two terms from the first part of Article 81 of the Constitution.

The third referendum on introducing amendments and addenda to the Constitution was held on February 27, 2022 on the initiative of the President of the Republic of Belarus. An updated version of the Constitution was presented for public discussion. It was suggested to change 83 articles, to add one chapter on the All-Belarusian People's Assembly and 11 new articles to the text.

The amendments primarily affected the issues of the state structure of our country. Thus, the norms determining the status, the order of formation, and powers of the All-Belarusian People's Assembly, which became the supreme representative organ of the people's power, were formulated.
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus has a Preamble and nine sections (148 articles):

Section I. Fundamentals of the Constitutional System.

Section II. Persons, society and the State.

Section III. The electoral system. Referendum.

Section IV. The President, the All-Belarusian People's Assembly, the Parliament, the Government, the Courts.

Section V. Local governance and self governance.

Title VI. Prosecutor's Office. State Control Committee.

Title VII. Financial and credit system of the Republic of Belarus.

Section VIII. The procedure for amending and supplementing the Constitution.

Section IX. Final and transitional provisions.