Council of the Republic of Belarus

The Council of the Republic is the upper house in Belarus' bicameral parliament, the National Assembly. The Council comprises 64 members and the representation is based geographically, most of the elected members come from civil society organizations, labour collectives and public associations in their jurisdiction.

Council of the Republic of Belarus
Type
Type	Upper house
Leadership
Speaker	Boris Batura since 31 october 2008
Structure
Members
Election
Last election	31 October 2008
Meeting place
The House of Government, Minsk

Powers

Any Bill must be initially considered in the House of Representatives and then in the Council of the Republic. Bills adopted by the House of Representatives shall be sent to the Council of the Republic for consideration within five days, where they shall be considered within no more than twenty days.

Special powers that accorded only to the Council of the Republic are:

• Approve the nomination by the President of chairman of the Constitutional Court
• Approve the nomination by the President of chairman and judges of the Supreme Court
• Approve the nomination by the President of Chairman and judges of the Supreme Economic Court
• Approve the nomination by the President of chairman of the Central Commission of Belarus on Elections and National Referendums
• Approve the nomination by the President of the Prosecutor General
• Approve the nomination by the President of chairman and members of the Board of the National Bank
• Elect six judges of the Constitutional Court
• Elect six members of the Central Commission of Belarus on Elections and National Referendums.
• Annul decisions of local Soviets of Deputies (parliaments) that are at variance with the country’s legislation
• Decide on dissolution of a local Soviet of Deputies in case it regularly or seriously violates the country’s laws and in other cases envisaged by law
• Consider decrees of the President on declaring the state of emergency, martial law, complete or partial mobilization, and within a maximum of three days after the decrees have been submitted take an appropriate decision.

Orders

Decisions taken by the Council of the Republic in the form of Orders (Russian: постановлений). Orders shall be made on the condition that they voted for the majority of the whole Chamber, unless otherwise provided in the Belarusian Constitution.

Elections

The procedure of forming the Council of the Republic combines elements of election and appointment. Eight members of the Council of the Republic are appointed by the President of Belarus and the remaining members are elected by secret vote: eight members of the Council of the Republic are elected from each of the country's region and Minsk City at sessions of local Soviets of Deputies of the basic level. A citizen of Belarus aged 30 and more, who has lived on the territory of the respective region or Minsk City for at least five years may be a member of the Council of the Republic.

Presidium

The Presidium of the Council of the Republic is a permanently operating body of the Council of the Republic. The Presidium of the Council of the Republic comprises the Speaker of the Council of the Republic (head of the Presidium), his/her deputy and the chairpersons of the Standing Committees.

House of Representatives of Belarus

Under the 1996 Constitution, the House of Representatives 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

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:

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14