Lukashenko opposes unsupervised adjustment of Belarusian election laws
MINSK. Aug 6 (Interfax) - Adjustment of Belarusian election laws must be balanced and meet the interests of the people rather than become a way of competition with other countries, President Alexander Lukashenko said at a related conference in Minsk on Tuesday.
"Whenever relaxation is made we must confident that it will not have a negative effect on the country or put the situation out of control in the election period. We must avoid arbitrary and unsupervised actions," he said.
It is also necessary to remember possible consequences of the prospective measures and have a clear idea about ways of their implementation, the Belarusian president said. He proposed to discuss the suggested amendments.
"Submission of this draft law to the House of Representatives in the proposed edition should be very well considered because it deals with issues of paramount importance for the electoral system," Lukashenko said.
"Let us not rush or have a race with anybody, let us take our time. Let us try to keep pace with the events and maturity of our society. Let us solve the pressing problems instead of inventing something else or making references to the new or old democratic states and procedures," he said.
"We have only one criterion: our elections are held in Belarus and for the Belarusian people and problems we will be discussing today must be solved by the people of Belarus. We must do what the people who live in our country want," Lukashenko said.
The president noted that some of the bill's provisions failed to gain unanimous support. "Objections have been raised to the provisions changing the procedure of financing election campaigns of candidates, such as the enlargement of election campaign funds and possibility of their formation during the nomination of Belarusian presidential candidates even before the candidates are registered," Lukashenko said.