Article 141. The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus of 1994 with changes and additions, adopted at the republican referendum (the present Constitution) shall enter into force from the day of its publication, except for the specific provisions thereof that enter into force within the terms specified by the present Constitution. Simultaneously the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Procedure of Entry into Force of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus" shall cease to be in force.

Article 142. Laws, edicts and other acts which were effective in the territory of the Republic of Belarus prior to the entry into force of the present Constitution shall be applied in the part not contradicting the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.

Article 143. Within a month from the day on which the present Constitution enters into force 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 had been elected by the appointed date of the republican 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 commence from the day on which the present Constitution enters into force.

The Council of the Republic shall be formed under the procedure specified in Article 91 of the present Constitution.

If within the specified term the House of Representatives is not formed due to disagreements between the President and the Supreme Council, the President shall in accordance with clauses 2 and 3 of Article 84 of the present Constitution dissolve the Supreme Council and call new elections to the Parliament.

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

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

Article 146. The President, the Parliament and the Government shall, within two months from the day on which the present Constitution enters into force, establish and form the bodies specified thereby under the procedure established by the present Constitution, unless otherwise provided by part 3 of Article 143 of the Constitution.

President
of the Republic of Belarus A.Lukashenko

27 November 1996

Minsk