President of Belarus

Head of state and head of government of Belarus

The president of the Republic of Belarus (; Президент Республики Беларусь) is the head of state and head of government of Belarus. The office was created in 1994 with the passing of the Constitution of Belarus by the Supreme Council. This replaced the office of Chairman of the Supreme Council as the head of state. The tasks of the president include executing foreign and domestic policy, defending the rights and general welfare of citizens and residents, and upholding the Constitution. The president is mandated by the Constitution to serve as a leader in the social affairs of the country and to act as its main representative abroad. The duties, responsibilities and other transitional clauses dealing with the presidency are listed in Chapter Three, Articles 79 through 89, of the Constitution. The term for the president is five years, but due to a 1996 referendum, the election that was supposed to occur in 1999 was pushed back to 2001. Under the 1994 constitution, the president could only serve for two terms as president, but due to a change in the constitution, term limits were eliminated. In the 2022 constitutional referendum, a limit of two terms was reimposed, though only on "newly elected presidents". During the course of the office, elections were held in 1994, 2001, 2006, 2010, 2015 and 2020. Alexander Lukashenko is the only person to serve as president since the 1994 elections. The presidential office is located in the Palace of the Republic in the capital Minsk, while the presidential residence is located in Zaslawye, near the capital. Lukashenko heads an authoritarian government and has often been referred to as "Europe's last dictator". Elections are not considered to be free and fair by international monitors, opponents of the regime are repressed, and the media is not free.

Belarus first declared independence in early 1918 as the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Its head of state was the president of a provisional supreme governing body, the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. In 1919, the Soviet Red Army forced the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic into exile where the Rada still exists, now led by President Ivonka Survilla. Under Soviet rule, the de facto leader of the Byelorussian SSR was the first secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia, the only legal party in Soviet Belarus. The Republic of Belarus was formed in 1991 shortly after declaring itself independent of the Soviet Union. From independence until passage of the Constitution in 1994, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet was the head of state and the prime minister as the head of government. When the office of the presidency was created, the role of the prime minister was reduced to assisting the president and resulted in the dissolution of the Supreme Soviet, along with its chairman, in 1996. In the first set of elections for the office of president, the prime minister of Belarus, Vyacheslav Kebich, was defeated in a runoff vote by Alexander Lukashenko, resulting in Lukashenko becoming the first president. the incumbent Lukashenko defeated the other candidates within the first ballot. as of 2024, he is the only person to have served as President of Belarus.

Article 79 of the Constitution of Belarus gives the status of head of state to the president of the Republic of Belarus. They are also considered the guardian of the Constitution and the rights and freedoms of those who claim Belarusian citizenship or residency. The president is the personification of unification of the Belarusian state when conducting foreign or internal affairs and shall be the main representative when dealing with other nations or international organizations. The president is also entrusted with the safety, prosperity and stability of the country and acts as an intermediary between the bodies of the national government. During their tenure in office, the president is barred from formal membership in a political party.

In order to be able to run for office, a candidate must be a Belarusian citizen by birth that is over thirty five years old. The candidate must also reside within the republic for ten years and able to cast a ballot legally. The provisions are set down in Article 80 of the Constitution. The initiative group must be registered with the Central Elections Commission no later than 85 days before the election. President Lukashenko, when addressing the press in February 2007, stated his health will determine if he will run in 2011 or step down at that time.

Articles 84 and 85 states the official political, social and national defense duties that are rested with the president. Other than the enumerated powers, Number 30 allows the president to use other powers granted to them either from national law or from other sections of the Constitution. The Presidential Palace (, Резиденция президента) is a Stalinist Empire style building located on October Square in Minsk surrounded by the streets of Marx, Engels, Kirov and Komsomol. Like the American White House, the streets close to the official residence are closed off to vehicular traffic and are patrolled by police forces. Having been used since 1994, it formerly housed the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Byelorussia. The president also has use of the Independence Palace in Minsk.

Officially, the only symbol denoting the presence of the president is the flag of the president of Belarus (Штандар Прэзідэнта Рэспублікі Беларусь). The standard, which has been in use since March 27, 1997, was adopted by a decree called "Concerning the Standard of the President of Republic of Belarus." signed into law by President Lukashenko. The standard's design is an exact copy of the national flag, with the addition of the Belarusian national emblem in gold. The standard's ratio of 5:6 differs from that of the national flag, making the standard almost square. The standard is bordered by a golden fringe. There are several copies of the standard; the original is kept in the office of the president while other copies are used on buildings, residences and vehicles to denote their presence.