Zelenskyy urges parliament to draft law on elections during martial law

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the Verkhovna Rada to develop legislation regulating elections held under martial law.

In his evening address posted on Telegram, Zelenskyy said he had a “substantive” discussion with parliamentary representatives, Caliber.Az reports.

“I will not allow any speculation against Ukraine, and if partners, including our key partner in Washington, speak so much and so specifically about elections in Ukraine — about elections under the legal regime of martial law — then we must provide Ukrainian, lawful answers to every question and every doubt. This is not easy, but we certainly do not need pressure on this issue,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader invited members of parliament to share their “vision” on the matter.

Under Ukrainian law, elections — presidential, parliamentary or local — are prohibited while martial law is in effect.

As a result, since the country-wide martial law was imposed after the full-scale invasion of February 2022, planned elections (including the national parliamentary election scheduled for 2023 and the presidential one for 2024) were postponed.

Apart from the legal ban, practical and security considerations make wartime elections extremely difficult: ongoing war, Russian-occupied territories, mass displacement, and inability to guarantee safe voting for citizens (displaced, abroad, on front lines) mean that free and fair elections cannot be ensured.

For local governments, the national parliament, Verkhovna Rada, has formally extended the mandates of current authorities, confirming that local elections remain postponed until martial law ends.

By Jeyhun Aghazada