Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has indicated he could put off his country’s election cycle and stay in power as long as the war with Russia continues.
In an interview with the BBC published on June 22, Zelenskyy could not guarantee a presidential election would take place in 2024, when his five-year term ends. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian law prohibits elections when the country is under martial law, as has been the case since Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion of the country on Feb. 24, 2022.
When asked whether there would be elections in Ukraine next year, Zelenskyy noted Ukraine’s ongoing state of martial law, and said he hoped for an end to the war by next year, but did not say he would let elections proceed even if the war with Russia were still running by that point.
“Elections must take place in peacetime, when there is no war, according to the law,” Zelenskyy said. “I really want there to be peace in the next year and life to be as it was before the war.”
Zelenskyy initially declared martial law through Decree № 64/2022 on Feb. 24, 2022, and most recently asked the Ukrainian parliament for an extension of the martial law order in May. The current term of martial law is set to run through Aug. 18, 2023, though it could face additional extensions.
Ukrainian parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk—who, like Zelenskyy, is a member of the Servant of the People—has also indicated the ongoing war with Russia could lead to postponed elections. In an interview with Ukrainian Pravda last week, Stefanchuk said holding an election during wartime “could lead to the disintegration of the state.”
“We do not know how to organize voting for almost 7 million [people] who are outside Ukraine,” Stefanchuck said, according to a translation of his remarks to Ukrainian Pravda. “We do not know how to organize voting for those regions that are temporarily occupied. We do not know how to ensure proper representation, the turnout of other citizens during martial law, and whether election facilities will not be attacked. Therefore, it seems to me that a very wise decision is embedded in the legislation of Ukraine that elections cannot be held during martial law.”
Zelenskyy’s Election Stance Draws Criticism
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticized Zelenskyy’s election stance in the latest episode of his Twitter series on Tuesday night. Carlson mocked U.S. politicians who have characterized the war between Ukraine and Russia as a fight to preserve Ukrainian democracy.
“Tonight we regret to tell you that we have a problem. It looks like they’re not going to be able to vote in Kyiv anymore and no, for once it’s not [Russian president Vladimir Putin’s] fault,” Carlson said. “Democracy in Ukraine seems to be suspended by the world’s foremost democracy advocate himself: Field Marshall Zelenskyy.”
Carlson has routinely criticized U.S. support for the Ukrainian side and, in March, asked U.S. presidential candidates to what extent they would continue to supply Ukrainian forces with weapons, and whether they felt continued support for Ukraine raised the chances of a direct nuclear conflict between the United States and Russia.
“‘So when will you have an election?’ Well [Zelenskyy] says ‘if we win we’ll let people vote, otherwise no, you vote when we feel like it because ultimately we’re completely in charge and make all the rules. Your job is to obey or be punished, that’s our version of self-government, self means me, I’m the government,'” Carlson continued in his Twitter video. “Now that’s not just any autocrat, that’s our chief ally in the war for democracy.”
Tini Kox, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has been urging Zelenskyy to commit to an on-time election since at least May.
In a May 16 interview with European Pravda, Kox said Ukraine, as a member nation in the Council of Europe, “has to hold free and fair elections because that is one obligation under the statute and under our conventions.”
Kox said he expects challenges for Ukraine to hold an election during wartime, but insisted Ukraine hold an election regardless.
“Nobody will blame Ukraine if not everything will be perfect,” he said. “Everybody will blame Ukraine if you do not organize elections.”
Ukraine War Rages On
Zelenskyy could theoretically avoid the dilemma of either postponing elections or risking a wartime vote by ending the war before the next election cycle.
Thus far, President Joe Biden’s administration has insisted it will continue to support Ukrainian forces until they can achieve battlefield successes that would give the Ukrainian government a favorable position in any potential peace deal with Russia. In a June 3 speech in Finland, U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken said “a cease-fire that simply freezes current lines in place” and lets Putin “consolidate control over the territory he has seized, and rest, rearm, and re-attack—that is not a just and lasting peace.”
Ukrainian forces launched a widely anticipated counteroffensive to retake territory in the country’s east, but told the BBC last week that progress in the counteroffensive has been “slower than desired.”
In an interview with the German newspaper Bild last week, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said, “We must prepare for the fact that [the war in Ukraine] could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine.”
Several U.S. presidential candidates have indicated they would either drop U.S. support for the war in Ukraine or push for peace talks if they are elected.
Former Republican president Donald Trump has said he would bring about a peace deal in Ukraine within 24 hours if he regained the White House in 2024.
Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis said it’s “unknowable” what the situation could look like at the start of a new U.S. presidential term in January 2025, but said, “I want to see a settlement of this.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, another candidate in the Republican presidential field, said earlier this month that he “will end the war by ceasing further support for Ukraine and negotiating a peace treaty with Russia.” Ramaswamy said his peace plan would entail ceding portions of Ukraine to Russia; permanently blocking Ukraine from joining NATO; ending U.S. and NATO sanctions on Russia; and closing NATO bases in Eastern Europe. In return, Ramaswamy would seek a Russian commitment to completely end any military partnership it has with China; reenter the pre-2023 New Start nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the United States; withdraw all nuclear weapons and delivery capabilities from Belarus, Kaliningrad, and all Russian-annexed regions of Ukraine; and withdraw all Russian military forces from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has proposed his own peace plan for Ukraine.
“We will offer to withdraw our troops and nuclear-capable missiles from Russia’s borders. Russia will withdraw its troops from Ukraine and guarantee its freedom and independence,” Kennedy’s campaign website states. “[United Nations] peacekeepers will guarantee peace to the Russian-speaking eastern regions [of Ukraine]. We will put an end to this war. We will put an end to the suffering of the Ukrainian people. That will be the start of a broader program of demilitarization of all countries.”