The European Union is deeply concerned at developments in Belarus. On 24 November President Lukashenko pressed ahead with a referendum on a new draft constitution which would substantially increase Presidential powers at the expense of both Parliament and the Constitutional Court, despite the clear lack of consultation with Parliament.
According to official figures, there was a turnout of 84 per cent and a vote of 70 per cent in favour of the President's version of a new constitution. However, there is no confidence that the conduct of the referendum was in accordance with democratic practice. There have been a number of reports of serious irregularities and there is considerable concern that the referendum was conducted by an ad hoc electoral commission set up by the President for this purpose, rather than by the standing Central Electoral Commission. The Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission Mr. Gonchar, was ousted from his post by President Lukashenko although he had been appointed by Parliament.
The new constitution was signed by President Lukashenko on 18 November, although the constitutional court had ruled that the referendum should be consultative only. The Constitution has since begun to be implemented with the establishment of a new Lower House of Parliament. The old Parliamentary building has been closed and members have been prevented from returning to it. A number of deputies of the old Parliamentary Assembly continue to voice their opposition to these developments. The president of the constitutional court and two other members have resigned, and there have been further public protests in Belarus.
The situation in Belarus has been of concern to the Union for some time. On 24 October the European Parliament decided that no further steps would be taken towards ratification of the partnership and co-operation agreement between the European Union and Belarus or towards further implementation of the interim agreement, until clear signals had been given by the Belarus authorities of their intention to respect fully basic democratic and human rights.
The Union's concerns have been conveyed to the Belarussian authorities on several occasions — by Troika demarche in Minsk on 14 October, in a Council Declaration on 18 October, by personal letter of 21 November from the President of the Council and in an EU Troika meeting with President Lukashenko at the OSCE Summit in Lisbon, led by the Taoiseach, as President of the European Council.
