Zelenskyy warns wartime elections would be a ‘tsunami’ that splits Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the possibility of holding elections in Ukraine during the war. (Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
It is impossible to hold elections in the country while
active fighting continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, while
speaking to reporters on Aug. 23.
Zelenskyy said elections could be held in Ukraine if the
country’s partners provided all the guarantees needed for a safe vote.
“I believe that if we want to tear the country apart, we can
move toward elections during a war like this. We have already been pushed from
all sides to hold elections during a war like this. About a year ago, there was
a wave of pressure like that. My position was clear: If our partners offer us
specific conditions under which elections in Ukraine can be held safely,
legitimately and democratically — with service members participating, in
front-line areas and abroad, where millions of our citizens fled to escape the
war, and safely, meaning without strikes or shelling — then let’s discuss it.
But no one ever offered any specific proposals,” he said.
Zelenskyy added that elections could not be held while
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin remained unwilling to consider cease-fire
options.
The president also said the war must end before elections
can be held.
“I believe elections during a war like this generally carry
major risks. Elections right now are a tsunami for the state — one that would
split Ukraine. So my strategy is to bring the country through to the end of the
war and preserve an independent and sovereign state. And I will carry it out,”
he concluded.
Fedorov’s statements on holding elections in Ukraine during the war
On the evening of Aug. 18, Fedorov posted a video address on
his YouTube channel in which he said Ukraine needed to hold elections.
He stressed that Russia had no right to determine when
Ukrainians could once again elect their government. Fedorov also said Ukraine
could not remain without a duly appointed defense minister during the war and
called for a broader discussion about the future of the state and democracy.
The Guardian wrote that Fedorov’s address was “the most
direct political challenge to Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the years since Russia’s
full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
On Aug. 19, presidential communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn
said Russia’s daily missile strikes and drone attacks provided a definitive
answer to whether an electoral process could be organized during the war.
“I think the daily strikes by Russian drones and missiles
are a definitive answer to that question,” he said.
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