Fair elections in Ukraine: the CEC has set a deadline for preparation
11 December 14:18
It will take at least six months to hold fair and free elections in Ukraine. The electoral infrastructure has suffered serious damage as a result of the war – only 75% of polling stations are currently open.
Deputy Chairman of the CEC Serhiy Dubovyk said this in a commentary to CNN in response to a question about the prospects for holding elections in Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to Dubovyk, if the elections are held earlier than six months, “it is impossible to fully guarantee compliance with all international standards.”
According to the UN, more than 5.9 million Ukrainian refugees live abroad, and the number of IDPs has reached 4.4 million. During the war, updating and verifying the voter register is a difficult task.
Another nuance is the involvement of military personnel. About a million Ukrainians are in the military, including those on the front line. It is difficult to organize voting for them without a guaranteed pause in hostilities.
Elections in Ukraine: risks and prospects
Holding early presidential and parliamentary elections during martial law in Ukraine remains theoretically possible. At the same time, the key problem is the inability to guarantee the safety of voters due to regular shelling throughout the country.
As a reminder, the next local elections were supposed to take place on October 26, but due to the martial law, they were not held.
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine was technically ready to organize elections, but they could only take place after a complete ceasefire.
Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk said that preparations for the election process would begin immediately after the end of martial law.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that Ukraine should hold presidential elections, accusing the Ukrainian authorities of delaying the process under the pretext of war. He also said that the country “is no longer a democracy” because of the long absence of elections.
After that, Zelenskyy assured that he was ready to participate in the elections and emphasized that they could only be held if security was ensured and appropriate changes were made to the legislation.
Zelenskyy has now instructed MPs to develop proposals on possible mechanisms for holding elections in wartime.
It should be noted that journalist Sergei Auslander said that Israel holds elections even during the war. They elect mayors and representatives of local councils.
