Legal system: based on civil law system
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994);
election held June 24 and 10 July 1994 (next to be held NA 1999);
Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 80%, Vyacheslav KEBICH 14%
head of government: Prime Minister Mikhail CHIGIR (since July 1994);
Deputy Prime Ministers Vladimir GARKUN, Viktor GONCHAR, Sergey LING,
Mikhail MYASNIKOVICH, Valeriy KOKAREV (since NA)
cabinet: Council of Ministers
note: first presidential elections took place in June-July 1994
Legislative branch: unicameral
Supreme Soviet: elections last held 4 April 1990 (next to be held 14
May 1995); results - Communists 87%; seats - (360 total) number of
seats by party NA; note - 50 seats are for public bodies; the
Communist Party obtained an overwhelming majority
Judicial branch: Supreme Court
Political parties and leaders: Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), Zenon
POZNYAK, chairman; Party of Popular Accord, Gennadiy KARPENKO; Union
of Belarusian Entreprenuers, V. N. KARYAGIN; Belarusian Party of
Communists, Vasiliy NOVIKOV, Viktor CHIKIN, chairmen; Belarus Peasant
Party, Yevgeniy LUGIN, chairman; Belarusian Socialist Party,
Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV, chairman; Belarusian Social Democrat Party
(SDBP), Oleg TRUSOV, Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairmen; Agrarian Party
of Belarus, Aleksandr DUBKO; United Democratic Party of Belarus
(UDPB), Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY, chairman; Independent Trade Unions,
Sergey ANTONCHIK, chairman
Member of: CCC, CE (guest), CEI (associate members), CIS, EBRD, ECE,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IFC, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, INTELSAT (nonsignatory
user), INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, NACC, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO
Diplomatic representation in US: chief of mission: Ambassador Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604 FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805 consulate(s) general: New York
US diplomatic representation: chief of mission: Ambassador Kenneth Spencer YALOWITZ embassy: Starovilenskaya #46, Minsk mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [7] (0172) 34-65-37
Flag: three horizontal bands of white (top), red, and white