Article 141. The 1994 Constitution of the Republic of Belarus together with the alterations and addenda, adopted at the national referendum (the present Constitution) shall enter into force on the day on which it is promulgated, apart from the specific provisions thereof, that are to enter into force under the procedure and at the times specified in the present Constitution. Simultaneously the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On the Procedure Governing the Entry into Force of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus" shall cease to apply.

Article 142. The laws, decrees and other acts which were applied in the territory of the Republic of Belarus prior to the entry into force of the present Constitution shall apply in the particular parts thereof that are not contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.

Article 143. Within a month of the entry into force of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus and the President of the Republic of Belarus shall form the House of Representatives from among the deputies of the Supreme Council who were elected by the appointed date of the referendum held in 1996. The deputies of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus shall retain their powers within the term stipulated by the present Constitution. The term of their powers shall be assessed from the day on which the present Constitution enters into force.

The Council of the Republic shall be formed to the order specified in Article 91 of the present Constitution.

If within the assigned time the House of Representatives is not formed due to controversies between the President and the Supreme Council, the former shall in accord with clauses 2 and 3 of Article 84 of the present Constitution dissolve the Supreme Council and call on new elections to Parliament.

Article 144. The President of the Republic of Belarus shall retain his powers. The term of his powers shall be assessed from the day on which the present Constitution enters into force.

Article 145. The Government of the Republic of Belarus shall exercise its duties and powers from the day on which the present Constitution enters into force.

Article 146. The President, Parliament and the Government within two months since the present Constitution enters into force shall form assigned bodies of power to the order as determined by the present Constitution, unless otherwise specified by part 3 of Article 143 of the Constitution.

President
of the Republic of Belarus                                                                             A.Lukashenko

27 November 1996

Minsk