President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi during an interview with American podcaster Lex Friedman stated, that the elections in Ukraine will be held immediately after the end of the full-scale war.
Zelenskyy emphasized that presidential and parliamentary elections were not held in 2024 due to martial law, which is in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine. According to him, everyone in the country understands that it is impossible to hold elections during a war, or changes to the legislation will have to be made.
“Why is society against it? Because we want elections that we want to trust. 8.5 million went abroad. The infrastructure must be built for these millions of people to vote. Millions of people in the occupied territories. I’m not even talking about the occupation of 2014. I’m talking about the occupation, now it was. What to do with these people? And one of the most unfair things is how to vote without a million soldiers.” – the president explained.
He noted that if the elections are held during the war, it is necessary to change the legislation, in particular to introduce new voting systems.
“To think about online voting. Everyone is afraid because of some or the other attacks, cyber, etc. But then think about it. I think it is within our power to end the war in 2025.” – noted Zelensky.
To Friedman’s clarifying question about the elections after the end of the war, the president answered that they would take place immediately after the end of hostilities, in the same year.
