Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, has stated that Ukraine needs to “think” how to hold Presidential elections – and yet at the moment the law does not allow doing it during martial law.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview for British TV channel Channel 4 News, the full version of which was posted by the Office of the President of Ukraine

Quote: “I have not postponed (the elections – ed.), this happens automatically. I am just not able to hold them now, first of all, because of the law which forbids me from doing it. It forbids not only me but all institutions in general from doing it.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the Ukrainian Parliament – ed.) must vote and issue a mandate for the elections, they (the MPs – ed.) must raise this question and vote. They cannot do it due to the ban, they cannot break the law. The situation is that the elections are forbidden during wartime.

And even if it were possible to do it, what would we do with the temporarily occupied territories and how to make these elections legitimate so that they are recognised by the world if over 6 million Ukrainian citizens are abroad, and there also must be infrastructure to vote, and we, unfortunately, have no online elections format?

If you ask me, I believe we must think about how to do it. If I could do it tomorrow, I would.”

Details: To a clarifying question, whether “the circumstances are unsuitable” now, Zelenskyy replied: “The circumstances and the law. We must change the circumstances and change the law”.

Support UP or become our patron!