Given the relative proximity of March 31, the date on which President Volodymyr Zelensky’s term ends, a question is imposed in the Ukrainian public debate: should the country change the law and go to the polls, or is it inevitable to postpone the elections? until the cessation of hostilities, as required by current martial law?
The major political parties represented in the Ukrainian Parliament are clear: elections in the middle of this war would represent a logistical challenge impossible for the State to face, which would also put the safety of voters at risk and destroy the unity that Ukraine needs. to continue fighting the Russian invasion.
“Right now as we speak there is an air alert declared, which can last an hour, two hours or more and can be activated again shortly,” says in an interview with EFE Yevgenia Kravchuk, a representative of the majority party, Sluga Narodu, of whose President Zelensky emerged in their ranks.
Aerial alerts announce the possibility or imminence of attacks with enemy missiles or drones and are issued so that the population descends to shelters. On election day, they would interrupt the voting process.
The deputy from Sluga Narodu, who has an absolute majority in the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, highlights the importance that political alternation through the polls has for a country that has not allowed any president to remain in office since it declared independence in 1991. , but sees it impossible to go to the polls with all the necessary guarantees at this time.
Opposition legislator Oleksí Goncharenko, from the liberal-conservative European Solidarity party of former President Petro Poroshenko, is of the same opinion. “I don’t see any way to organize elections,” says the politician he belongs to, after the illegalization after the beginning of the invasion of the pro-Russian bloc of Parliament, the opposition party with the most seats.
“Elections are, by definition, an internal struggle, and that is what they should be, but this is not a positive thing at a time of existential war for the country,” says Goncharenko, who, like his political adversaries, considers it impossible to guarantee the right to vote for all displaced people, refugees and soldiers fighting on the front.
The deputy for Odessa also warns of the impossibility of guaranteeing the physical safety of voters. “There are areas of Kharkiv, Kherson or Zaporizhzhia that are within range of Russian artillery, so even aerial warnings would not help,” he says.
Grigori Nemiria, deputy of the conservative Patria party, of former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, highlights the difficulties of guaranteeing the right to vote for the millions of refugees who have settled abroad due to the war, and for Ukrainians living under occupation in 17% of the national territory conquered by Russia.”
How could these citizens participate in the elections?” asks Nemiria, who also emphasizes the impossibility of meeting Western electoral standards under a martial law that limits, for reasons of national security, freedom of the press or the right of assembly. .
“The unity of Ukrainians is one of our strengths for our future victory, and elections usually awaken many emotions that could undermine this unity,” the deputy tells EFE.
Inna Sovsun, from the liberal-progressive Golos party, agrees in underlining the need to go to the polls only when citizens enjoy all the rights and freedoms that all legislation limits in time of war.
Sovsun warns of the negative consequences that the “political turbulence” typical of electoral campaigns could have in the current context of war, and also emphasizes the issue of security.
“There is not a single guarantee that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would not try to bomb at least one polling station and, furthermore, I am sure that on election day there would be air alerts throughout the day,” says the deputy.
Parliament’s position against holding elections in time of war is supported by the majority of civil society. Last September, a hundred Ukrainian NGOs and civic associations, including the most active and influential in the country, signed a manifesto in favor of the postponement.
In his most forceful statement on the matter so far, President Zelensky stated on November 6 that “it is not time for elections” and asked to focus on winning the war so as not to give rise to a “political division” that, he said, would only benefits Russia.
