It is impossible to hold elections during wartime, - Mahera
During martial law, elections cannot be held because martial law is imposed when there are certain threats to the state.
This was announced by former Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission Andrii Mahera in an interview with Censor.NET.
Security issues
In particular, the state cannot guarantee compliance with certain principles of electoral law, including the principle of free elections.
"Due to the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation and the hostilities, the state cannot guarantee compliance with the principle of electoral rights, in particular the principle of free elections.
The principle of free elections has two elements. The first element is the ability to freely form one's will, regardless of threats, deception, bribery, or illegal actions. The second element is the inability to realize one's political will, previously expressed at the polling station by filling out a ballot. It is no coincidence that Article 64 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which lists the articles of the Basic Law of Ukraine that concern constitutional rights and freedoms, often refers to these constitutional rights and freedoms as "protected articles." Article 38, which concerns the right to vote and the right to run for office, is not among these protected articles. But there are others. For example, the right to life, the right to liberty and personal inviolability, the right to appeal, and so on. Therefore, the logic of the Constitution is clear: either martial law or elections. Either elections or martial law. There can be no third option," the expert emphasizes.
Voting abroad
He also believes that certain problems may arise with voting abroad.
"As for abroad, we do not have a single consistent figure for refugees. Even the UN cites different figures. In the spring, the Office for Refugees cited a figure of 6.8 million, and in the fall, another UN agency cited a figure of 5.9 million. And we have less than 600,000 adult citizens registered with the consulate. That means the vast majority of people are not registered with the consulate and do not want to be. The question arises: how will they vote? No one is going to chase after them either...," says Mahera.
For more details, read the article "For Trump or for themselves? What Ukraine needs to take care of as it prepares for its first post-war elections".
The issue of elections
- We would like to remind you that after receiving relevant signals from partners, Ukraine began discussing the possibility of holding elections in the country during the war.
- In particular, US President Donald Trump previously stated that Ukraine must hold elections. In turn, Zelenskyy responded that he was ready for this.
