According to state media reports, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday reportedly said that he would leave office after a new constitution comes into force. “I am not going to shape the constitution to suit my needs,” BelTA news agency quoted. “I am not going to be the president once the new constitution is in place.”
The embattled leader has been facing daily protests demanding his resignation since the August 9 presidential election and made the comments one day after meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who encouraged him to push for reforms to defuse tensions. Lukashenko has promised to revamp the constitution to reduce the concentration of power in the hands of the president but has insisted that his strong hand is needed to see that process through.
“We need to create a new constitution, but it should benefit the country. I don’t want the country to fall to ruin later on,” he said, according to the news service. Whether Lukashenko’s comments were sincere or not remains unclear, but this is the first time the leader has publicly talked about what the country may look like when he is no longer in the top job. However, his statement also seemed to leave open the possibility that he may eventually take up a role other than the president, though he did not provide any details.
Meanwhile, Franak Viačorka, a top adviser to opposition leader and Lukashenko’s challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, tweeted that the opposition movement would “continue insisting on elections before constitution reform.”
Lukashenka says he will leave the post when the new constitution is adopted. Moscow likely made him understand that his presidency is over. Lukashenka is colossal pressure of street protest. However, we continue insisting on elections before constitution reform. pic.twitter.com/JDk7iAqWsO
— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) November 27, 2020
Lukashenko has held office in the former Soviet nation for the last 26 years and has cracked down heavily on the protests that have engulfed the nation over the last four months. Hundreds have been detained and there have been allegations of torture from people held in custody. Ms. Tikhanovskaya has been taking refuge in Lithuania for the past few months due to security concerns for her and her family. A majority of the international community has refused to recognize the election results, with the EU even sanctioning Lukashenko and key members of his administration for their roles in the violent clampdown against demonstrators.
Moscow, on the other hand, has consistently backed Minsk, while simultaneously accusing Western nations of “gross interference” in the country’s internal affairs. “The wise Belarusian people are able to sort themselves out without any outside prompting and intrusive offers of unsolicited mediation,” Russian FM Lavrov said on Thursday.