Zelensky proposes imposing martial law to avoid elections
(Baonghean.vn) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 26 proposed extending the state of emergency, thereby canceling the parliamentary election scheduled for October 2023.
President Zelensky announced martial law on February 24, 2022, and has since extended it. The most recent 90-day extension was announced on May 20, and was set to expire on August 18. If the Ukrainian parliament approves Zelensky’s latest request, the state of emergency will be extended until January 15.
Ukrainian law calls for parliamentary elections no later than October 29, with a 60-day campaign period starting August 28. However, the law also prohibits campaigning and voting during martial law.
Extending martial law would disrupt the campaign season for the presidential election, which is currently scheduled for March next year. “If we introduce martial law, we cannot hold elections. The constitution prohibits any elections during martial law,” Zelensky said in May. The following month, he told the BBC that “elections should be held in peacetime, when there is no fighting”.
Some Ukrainian supporters in Europe and North America have criticized the possibility of canceling the elections. “Ukraine should prepare for a vote as soon as possible,” the head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) ‘Tiny’ Kox said in an interview. “Although democracy is not just about elections, I think we all agree that without elections, democracy cannot function properly,” Kox said.
President Zelensky ran for re-election in 2019 and won with 73% of the vote. Soon after, his newly formed party — named after the TV show in which he played a fictional Ukrainian president — also won a majority in parliament.
At the end of 2020, he moved away from the concept of peace in Donbass and began to talk openly about a military solution to the “occupied territories”./.
