The question of the next presidential election of Ukraine has become a possible element of the peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine that the United States negotiated.
However, Ukrainian leaders and election experts argue that the holding of the elections of soon would endanger lives and the sovereignty of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected in April 2019 and the next presidential election was planned for March or April 2024. However, the martial law has been in force since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, and the Ukrainian law prohibits presidential elections when martial law is in force.
President Donald Trump castigated Zelenskyy for not having organized a presidential election.
In an article on February 19 on his social platform Truth, Trump said about Zelenskyy: “He refuses to have elections, is very weak in Ukrainian polls, and the only thing in which it was good was to play Biden” like a violin “. A dictator without elections, Zelenskyy is better to move quickly or he will not make him a country. »»
Some members of the US Congress and Conservative commentators have echoed Trump’s demand that Ukraine organizes elections to prove its democratic diplomas.
“Zelenskyy should hold elections. They are mainly under martial law. It is not good when you claim to defend democracy. They need to practice it, “Republican senator Josh Hawley told VOA.
Republican representative Victoria SPARTZ told VOA that Ukraine should organize “transparent elections, and that not do so allows Russia to say:” You have an illegitimate president signing these contracts and agreements “.
Russia has questioned the legitimacy of the president and the government of Ukraine since 2014, long before Zelenskyy was elected.
During his television event of questions and answers on December 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that he could not negotiate with Zelenskyy until his legitimacy was confirmed through the elections.
“If someone goes to the elections, gain legitimacy, we will speak with anyone, including Zelenskyy,” he said.
Zelenskyy said at a press conference on February 23 that he would move as president if it meant “peace for Ukraine”, but postponed calls to organize elections.
“How can we call an election in which half of the country’s population will not be able to vote?” He said. “How can we vote when today (Ukraine was) attacked with 267 drones?”
His main political rivals, former president Petro Poroshenko, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, also rejected the call to organize elections. According to a February survey, 63% of Ukrainians also reject it.
Many challenges
Ukrainian electoral experts say there are many challenges to organize free and fair elections under war conditions.
This would violate the international principles of electoral law, according to Yevhenii Radchenko, former deputy president of the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine.
“The elections must be universal, equal and free. During active hostilities, it is not realistic to guarantee the security of one of the participants, and due to massive Russian strikes, an important part of the electoral infrastructure was destroyed, “she said.
Radchenko, who joined the armed forces of Ukraine, sent a text to Voa of the trenches of the Donetsk front.
On February 27, OPORA, a main Ukrainian non -governmental organization involved in public surveillance and plea in the field of elections, published a declaration signed by several other Ukrainian NGOs entitled “Declaration of Ukrainian non -governmental organizations on the impossibility of holding Democratic elections without lasting peace”.
‘Armed forces or elections’
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian parliament, as required by the constitution of the country, introduced martial law, which prohibits elections.
Opora president Olga Aivazovska said the martial law was to preserve the state and mobilize the company for defense.
“We have to choose the armed forces or the elections,” she told Voa.
Aivazovska noted that Ukraine had held elections between 2014 and 2022, when conflict with Russia was underway in eastern Ukraine, but before Russia launched air raids on Ukrainian territory.
“Even if a cease-fire is established, there is no guarantee that Russia would not violate it several times between 2014 and 2022,” she said. “It can make a massive bombardment of Ukrainian territory on the day of the ballot. He can organize terrorist attacks in polling stations, kill voters, elections and observers, or at least disrupt the process. »»
Aivazovska said that it would be easy to challenge an election as illegitimate if only 5% to 10% of the votes of the population.
“If Ukraine begins the electoral process without guaranteeing its completion, this means that we simply give this tool to Russia for abuse and manipulation,” she said.
Radchenko said that around 14 million citizens – out of a population of 41 million inhabitants – could not vote, given that the war has dislocated millions of Ukrainians and that nearly a million Ukrainian men and women are used in the armed forces.
According to Aivazovska, it is also difficult to know how people in the areas occupied by Russia, “where people are subject to tortures, kidnappings and other crimes”, will be able to vote freely, even after raising martial law.
Most of the 7 million Ukrainian citizens who fled war abroad will not be able to vote either, unless their host countries are strongly investing in the organization of the process.
“In 2004, the record number of Ukrainians living abroad voted in the polling stations of Ukrainian embassies and consulates – 103,000 citizens around the world. There are simply no resources available to organize the vote for 7 million people, “said Aivazovska.
Let Ukraine decide
Most members of the US Congress interviewed by VOA said that Ukraine should be free to decide when holding its elections.
Republican representative Brian Fitzpatrick said that the United States and other democracies will encourage Ukraine to organize elections when he can do so safely and fairly, but not when “Ukrainians are still under invasion by a evil communist dictatorship”.
Democratic representative Eugene Vindman, born in kyiv in 1975, told Voa: “When 20% of the territory is occupied, when millions of Ukrainians are outside the country, it is difficult to imagine democratic elections representing the majority of detained people.”
Vindman expressed his confidence that Ukrainian society will have elections as soon as it will reach stable peace.
Republican senator Kevin Cramer said that the example of the United States elections holding during the Second World War is unenforceable because the United States did not have to fight on its territory.
Vindman noted that European countries also suspended the elections for the duration of this war.
Democratic representative Seth Magaziner suggested that a solid statement by Trump supporting Ukraine’s defense against the invasion of Russia would allow Ukrainians to “develop a calendar for the elections”.
The Republican representative, Don Bacon, stressed that Russia was unable to demand elections in Ukraine. “They haven’t had free elections for 25 years. Putin murdered all her rivals. They were thrown buildings. They were poisoned. They were killed in gulags, “he told Voa in an email.
Katya Andrusz, spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation at the European Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, told VOA that at the request of the Ukrainian authorities, his office began to work to ensure that when all the prerequisites are in place, Ukraine can hold elections “in accordance with international standards and commitments that Ukraine democratic elicions ”.
“Odihr works with Ukraine in many areas, and we appreciate and respect the country’s democratic force in the midst of all the ongoing challenges,” she said.
Katerya Lisunova of Voa contributed to this report.
