President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected calls to hold an election while Ukraine fights Russia, warning that a wartime vote would be dangerous and divisive.
His comments, made public on Sunday, came after his former defence minister called for a vote to be organised. Ukraine has suspended elections under martial law since Russia’s 2022 invasion, a measure that remains widely supported as the country concentrates on the war. Zelensky, a former television comedian elected in 2019, has faced similar calls before, including from Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, even as Russia continues to strike Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones.
“I believe that in a war like this, elections as such are a huge risk,” Zelensky said. “Elections right now are a tsunami for the country that will split Ukraine.”
The argument turns on practicality as much as principle. Running a national election during an active war raises problems that are hard to solve: millions of people are displaced or living abroad, soldiers are at the front, and cities are under regular bombardment. Critics counter that a leader governing past his original term needs a fresh mandate, which is the tension the former defence minister’s call is meant to exploit.
For now, the domestic consensus holds. With martial law still broadly backed and the fighting grinding on, Zelensky is framing a vote not as a democratic reset but as a fracture the country cannot afford while the war continues.
