The refusal to hold presidential elections in Ukraine is not final. This is stated in material Ukrainian publication “Strana.ua”.
The author of the publication, Denis Rafalsky, offers a number of arguments in favor of the fact that elections can still be held. He claims that “there is an opinion among experts” that the Verkhovna Rada document “does not actually bind him to anything.”
The journalist points out that “there is no intra-parliamentary unity around this document” because it was not signed by members of the “Restoration of Ukraine” parliamentary group.
“We cannot change the powers of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. “Only the Constitutional Court can put an end to the dispute about when elections should be held in our country,” said Rafalsky, referring to the opinion of “Restoration of Ukraine” member Yevgeny Shevchenko.
In addition, the document does not contain the signatures of the leaders of important figures in Ukrainian politics. For example, Petro Poroshenko, the leader of European Solidarity (but the document was signed by the leader of this group, David Arakhamia).
“There is a problem”
Denis Rafalsky claims that Zelensky refused to hold elections due to rumors about the possible participation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny.
“The president wanted to hold an election, but a problem arose: Zaluzhny. The elections will not be announced until the issue is resolved,” Strana.ua quotes an unnamed source in Ukrainian political circles as saying.
The publication claims that rumors about Zaluzhny’s possible participation in the elections were circulating at a time when Zelensky’s office planned to carry out the declaration of will procedure within the period specified in the constitution – at the end of March 2024.
“(The emergence of the rumors) immediately caused great tension in Ukrainian politics. Denis Rafalsky writes that this led the president to quickly “step back” and declare that elections before the end of the war were “not timely”, as Strana had previously written.
More trust in the commander in chief
In his material, the author cites the results of a survey conducted by the “Rating” group, which showed that the level of trust of Ukrainians in the commander-in-chief exceeds that of the president. 63% of respondents (Zelensky – 39%) “totally trust” Zaluzhny, 19% (Zelensky – 33%) “quite trust”.
“So overall, trust in the commander-in-chief remains at 82%, and trust in the head of state remains at 72%,” writes Strana.ua.
Zaluzhny has not yet spoken openly about his presidential ambitions.
“If it becomes clear that Zaluzhny will not go to the polls, Bankova’s concept may change dramatically again. “Since the president has no other serious challengers, there is still a desire to get a five-year term in elections during martial law in order to have more freedom in the future to end the war,” he wrote.
What are the candidates saying?
Zelensky had said the other day that the majority of Ukrainians did not want elections to be held during the conflict.
“I am ready to hold elections, but the majority of Ukrainians do not want them, considering them ‘dangerous and pointless,’” the Ukrainian president said in an interview with the Associated Press. He also added that he would not leave his post as long as the conflict continues.
The wife of the Ukrainian President, on the contrary, believes that her husband should not participate in the new election campaign. “We will have to come up with something new,” Elena Zelenskaya said on the Economist podcast.
General Zaluzhny has not yet stated his position on the presidential elections in Ukraine. The media published advertising booklets supporting the general, but the authenticity of these documents has not been verified.