Legislation, work with the public and elections. Lukashenko held a meeting with the Chairperson of the Council of the Republic

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with the Chairperson of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly, Natalya Kochanova, during which a range of various topics were discussed, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

One of the issues raised by the Head of State was the legislative process, not in itself, but its peculiarities over the recent period, during the tenure of the upper house of parliament of the current convocation, which, incidentally, will soon conclude. "Perhaps there are some shortcomings, peculiarities that we should take into account after the elections in the future," Alexander Lukashenko inquired.

The second topic of conversation was the activity of the expert council, established under the Council of the Republic for comprehensive review of draft key normative legal acts and assessment of the consequences of their adoption. The discussion also covered the expert advisory council, which examines topical aspects of legislative development and formulates proposals for its further improvement.

The Head of State enquired about the progress of both these structures, their positive and, possibly, negative experiences: "What is not working well here? Has this expert council become a mere appendage of some bureaucratic (state body. - BELTA note) - governmental or other?"

"We agreed that this would be a serious filter of experts for documents submitted for the President's consideration. This is very important – not to unbalance the system. Therefore, I thought this council would not be superfluous. And there should be no excessive bureaucracy there either. This must not be allowed under any circumstances," Alexander Lukashenko warned.

The meeting also discussed the work of the Council of the Republic with local councils of deputies. "We agreed that the Council of the Republic would take local councils under its patronage. This is generally your area of responsibility," said the Head of State. "Because no one, the Council of the Republic, (better than you. - BELTA note) will do this work. How are things here? What needs to be done in the future?" the President asked.

"A very pressing fourth topic is elections," the Head of State continued. "I would ask you, first and foremost, the Presidential Administration, and if necessary, the Parliament (the lower house) to get involved in conducting these elections. Especially since you are the plenipotentiary for Minsk."

"Minsk has always had a certain peculiarity," Alexander Lukashenko asked. "How are things here?" He recalled that there had long been talk about the need to assess the readiness of all authorities for the upcoming elections and, if necessary, to assist the Central Election Commission. "We need to help the CEC. Because we do not have such established bureaucratic, administrative systems that deal with elections, apart from the Central Election Commission. The rest, so to speak, are on a voluntary basis," the Head of State explained. "Therefore, this issue must be kept under control; you have experience."

Alexander Lukashenko paid special attention to the topic of working with people. According to the Council of the Republic, during the session period, senators held over 200 direct telephone hotlines, 36 personal receptions of citizens, about half of which were on-site, and considered about 6,000 appeals.

"I can only thank all the senators for seriously addressing this issue (organising work with citizens' appeals. - BELTA's note) like no other structure. People highly value this; people want to see the authorities; people want to talk to representatives of the authorities. You have done this well," the Belarusian leader emphasised.

Source: belta.by