Ukraine will need to look for ways told hold wartime elections if the war continues to drag on, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with BBC published on July 20.
Zelensky's five-year term was supposed to expire in May, but he has continued to serve as president due to martial law.
Ukraine introduced martial law after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. The Martial Law Act explicitly bans presidential, parliamentary, and local elections.
Zelensky emphasized that many factors make holding fair elections challenging during the war, "but in any case, if the war drags on, it will be necessary to look for new tools."
Oleg Sukhov
Zelensky was responding to the interviewer's questions on whether he would still be in office if the war continues for ten years, and whether Ukraine could still be considered a democracy at that point.
"Firstly, no one will agree to a war that will continue for another 10 years, or many years," Zelensky responded, describing that scenario as "impossible."
Holding elections, however, would be "difficult" and require a change in the Constitution, he noted. Furthermore, the Constitution cannot be changed during martial law.
Another complication would be how to ensure free and fair elections, given there are people living in the occupied territories, Ukrainians serving in trenches, and millions of Ukrainians abroad, he noted.
Oleg Sukhov
