European parliamentarians asked Belarus to expand the...

European parliamentarians asked Belarus to expand the powers of the Belarusian parliament and to abolish the death penalty as constructive steps towards rejoining Europe.
Uladzimir Navasyad, a member of Belarus's National Assembly who attended a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France, said he hoped that Belarus's compliance would bring the country closer to regaining its special guest status with the PACE and that the PACE would look into the issue as early as its next session.
The new demands came in the wake of a report presented to the assembly on September 25 by Stef Goris of Belgium, who led PACE observers at Belarus's recent presidential election.
Although "strongly deploring" what he called a lack of respect for democratic standards by the Belarusian authorities during the election, Goris called for ending the "isolation policy" towards Belarus, calling it ineffective.
The PACE suspended Belarus's special guest status in early 1997, weeks after Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenko amended the constitution, securing himself sweeping powers, outlawing the Supreme Soviet (parliament) and replacing it without an election with a hand-picked National Assembly.