Type Lower House Voting system First-past-the-post | Seats 110 Last election 2016 | |
Political groups Independents: 93 seats
Communist Party of Belarus: 8 seats
Belarusian Patriotic Party: 3 seats
Republican Party of Labour and Justice: 3 seats
Opposition (United Civic Party and 1 independent): 2 seats
Liberal Democratic Party: 1 seat | ||
Under the 1996 Constitution, the House of Representatives (Belarusian: Палата Прадстаўнікоў, Palata Pradstawnikow, Russian: Палата Представителей, Palata Predstaviteley) is the lower house of the parliament of Belarus.
Contents
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 (art. 97).
The upper house is the Council of the Republic.
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:
In practice, the House of Representatives has little real power. Notably, it has little control over government spending; it cannot pass a law to increase or decrease the budget without presidential consent. It has been dominated by supporters of President Alexander Lukashenko since its inception. The Belarusian political system concentrates nearly all decision-making power in the president's hands, and there is almost no opposition to executive decisions.
Fraction
(2016 6th convocation).