Toast to president: Opposition MP about ‘parliamentary’ partying

In an interview with YouTube channel Country For Life, opposition MP Hanna Kanapatskaya pulled back the curtain on some aspects of festive events in the House of Representatives, the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament.

According to her, she was invited to to the deputies’ party only once – in the year of 2016.

When asked whether a toast is usually drunk to the head of state at ‘parliamentary’ parties, she answered:

“Once I was present at such an event. The second toast was proposed to the president, and the MPs stood up to drink it. It was so unexpected, and I failed to get on my feet.”

Later, she never received an invitation to Belarusian lawmakers’ gets-together, Kanapatskaya added.

In early August, Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a number of decrees to set the dates for the elections to the Council of the Republic and the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus of the 7th convocation. They will be held on 7 and 17 November 2019 respectively.

After the infamous referendum in 1996, the first and still the only president of Belarus received the authority to hold referendums and appoint top officials. His decrees and orders became stronger than laws: the Belarusian parliament – National Assebly – was turned into a rubber-stamping legislative body which obediently carries out all Lukashenka’s instructions. Currently, there are only two opposition deputies in the House of Representatives.

Lukashenka’s favourite may become MP

belsat.eu

News