House of Representatives of Belarus

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House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus
Палата Прадстаўнікоў Нацыянальнага сходу Рэспублікі Беларусь
National Assembly of Belarus
Type
Type
Structure
Seats 110
250px
Political groups
  Non-partisan (105)
  Communist Party of Belarus (3)
  Agrarian Party (1)
  Republican Party of Labour and Justice (1)
Elections
Single-member district
Last election
 2012
Meeting place
House of Representatives of Belarus.jpg
The House of Government
Minsk

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Under the 1996 Constitution, the House of Representatives (Belarusian: Палата Прадстаўнікоў, Palata Pradstawnikow, Russian: Палата Представителей, Palata Predstaviteley) is the lower house of the parliament of Belarus.

It consists of 110 deputies elected on the basis of universal, equal, free, and direct electoral suffrage by secret ballot (art. 91). It is a majoritarian system, with the outcome decided by overall majorities in single-member constituencies. Any citizen of 21 years is eligible for election (art. 92). The functions of the House are to consider draft laws and the other business of government; it must approve the nomination of a prime minister (art. 97); and it may deliver a vote of no confidence on the government (art. 97).

The upper house is the Council of the Republic.

Powers

Bills adopted by the House of Representatives are being sent to the Council of the Republic for consideration within five days, where they are considered within no more than twenty days.

Special powers that accorded only to the House of Representatives are:

  • consider draft laws put forward by the President or submitted by no less than 150 thousand citizens of the Republic of Belarus, who are eligible to vote, to make amendments and alterations in the Constitution and give its interpretation
  • consider draft laws, including the guidelines of the domestic and foreign policy of the Republic of Belarus; the military doctrine; ratification and denunciation of international treaties;
  • call elections for the Presidency;
  • grant consent to the President concerning the appointment of the Prime minister;
  • consider the report of the Prime minister on the policy of the Government and approve or reject it; a second rejection by the House of the policy of the Government is an expression of non-confidence to the Government.

In practice, the House of Representatives has little real power. Notably, it has little control over government spending; it cannot pass a law to increase or decrease the budget without presidential consent. It has been dominated by supporters of President Alexander Lukashenko since its inception. The Belarusian political system concentrates nearly all decision-making power in the president's hands, and there is almost no opposition to executive decisions.

Speakers of the House of Representatives

Name Entered Office Left Office
Anatoly Malofeyev December 28, 1996 November 21, 2000
Vadim Popov November 21, 2000 November 16, 2004
Vladimir Konoplev November 16, 2004 October 2, 2007
Vadim Popov October 2, 2007 October 27, 2008
Vladimir Andreichenko October 27, 2008 Present

Fraction

(2012 5th convocation).

Fraction Number of Deputies
Independent 105
Communist Party of Belarus 3
Republican Party of Labour and Justice 1
Agrarian Party 1

Members (since 1990)

References

See also

External links

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