If the state of war had not been in force in Ukraine, the first round of presidential elections would have been held there today

If the state of war had not been in force in Ukraine, the first round of presidential elections would have been held there today. The CNN website wrote that there are no elections in the country, which has been resisting Russian aggression for more than two years, but the residents of Kiev and the soldiers don’t mind too much.

Due to the state of war, presidential elections are not being held on time in Ukraine this year, and parliamentary elections were not held last year for the same reason. The MPs and President Zelenskyi, elected in 2019, will thus remain in office even after the expiry of their regular mandate.

However, the residents of Kyiv that CNN spoke to don’t mind too much that there are currently no presidential elections. Psychologist Kateryna Bilokon believes that the elections now would only be a burden on the state budget, which must finance the defense against Russia. “Now there is no one who can replace Zelensky,” she told the American station.

Twenty-one-year-old Mykola Lyapin also supports the current president’s stay in office. “If people got the impression that Zelenskyy has been in office for too long, they would solve it even if there was a war,” said the young man. Active-duty soldiers interviewed by CNN also spoke out against holding elections in the current situation. For example, they feared a “power vacuum” that could occur during and after the elections.

A clear majority of Ukrainians do not want elections during the war

After all, holding elections during a state of war has few supporters, even according to public opinion polls. A survey published last month by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showed that only 15 percent of Ukrainians support holding presidential elections on time. On the contrary, 69 percent of respondents were in favor of Zelensky staying as president until the end of the state of war and then immediately calling elections. Only about ten percent of people said that Zelenskyj should leave office and his powers should be taken over by the speaker of the parliament.

According to CNN, some politicians from allied countries pushed for the holding of elections despite the war. US Senator Lindsey Graham from the Republican Party was the loudest advocate for holding a vote last year. However, even he changed his opinion after visiting Kyiv in February this year, reports CNN. “Everybody I spoke to said the war had to get to a better point in order to hold elections. That makes sense,” the senator explained.

Zelenskyy maintains solid support

Zelenskyi did not completely reject the idea of ​​holding elections even during a state of war. However, he said that, for example, the costs of the vote should be paid by allied countries so that Ukraine’s defense budget would not be weakened. Other politicians from the ruling bloc had a strongly negative attitude, according to which it would be almost impossible to organize a vote under wartime conditions. This is also the opinion of the Speaker of the Parliament, Ruslan Stefančuk, who was elected for the President’s Servant of the Nation party. Stefanchuk pointed out that millions of Ukrainians who fled the war abroad or to other parts of the country, soldiers and, of course, Ukrainians who live in the territory occupied by Russia would have difficulty participating in the elections.

Zelenskyj would probably have no problem with defending the mandate. According to a February poll, 64 percent of respondents trusted Zelensky, which was the highest figure among political representatives. Confidence in Zelensky, however, fell by 13 percentage points compared to a similar survey from December last year. (ČTK)