President appoints two new governors and CEC Chairman
The President reviewed personnel issues and appointed:
Igor Karpenko as Chairman of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and Holding Republican Referenda;
Aleksandr Subbotin as Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee;
Anatoly Isachenko as Chairman of the Mogilev Regional Executive Committee.
Addressing the new leaders, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that thorough work had been done when considering their candidacies. The Head of State explained, “This is not because I don’t know you or because someone in the country doesn’t know you. It’s just because now the time is so compressed that there shouldn’t be any wrong steps, there shouldn’t be any inaccurate steps. You understand this as well as I do, since you yourself are in the upper echelon of power.”
The President drew attention to an essential point, “Igor Vasilyevich understands very well that if the people support the proposed Constitution (amendments to it), most likely your candidacy will be submitted to the Belarusian People’s Congress for approval. That is, the people’s ‘veche’ [a meeting of people in medieval times] will still approve you if everything goes well.”
The Head of State warned that difficult times still await the new head of the CEC, “Beginning from the referendum, its organisation. You are an experienced person and, working in the city executive committee, you are well aware of the election campaigns. Then – for the first time in our history – on a single voting day we will have to elect our councils and the legislative body: the Parliament. Of course, then there will be the Presidential elections, too. They seem to be far away, but they are not so far. Everything will depend on the situation in the country.”
Developing the issue of approving the CEC Chairman by the Belarusian People’s Congress, Aleksandr Lukashenko explained, “This is in order to make the election process more independent and so that people do not have any suspicions that the executive power or the Head of State press on the election process through the Central Election Commission and regional election commissions – or territorial commissions, as we call them. You understand this. This is a very responsible position in the country. By proposing such amendments to the Constitution regarding the CEC, we also raise the role of the Central Election Commission. I underline once again that you are an experienced person, you have directly participated in these elections, you know this very well. Therefore, I hope that you will succeed in this responsible organisational work.”
The Head of State also touched upon the work of the Ministry of Education, which was headed by Igor Karpenko before his new appointment, “We must not be mistaken with the selection of a new Education Minister. This work will not leave you anywhere, we are waiting for your proposals for a new minister. As far as the Education Ministry is concerned, until the new minister gets into the swing of the work, you will have to deal with this. Let’s be frank, as the Chairman of the CEC, you will have a little time to be distracted by this state work in the education system. Don’t forget this.”
