2023-07-28 18:07:45
Ukrainian women in shooting practice
The war has put the country in a permanent state of emergency.
(Photo: ddp/abaca press)
Vienna On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament extended the state of war until mid-November. With this, the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada decided that there will be no elections in the autumn. In peacetime, these should have taken place in October, with presidential elections due at the end of March 2024.
How and whether the country should hold such ballots in the midst of a general defensive war remains unanswered. The decision, which has been looming for some time, is a welcome pretext for Russian propaganda to denounce alleged authoritarian tendencies.
“The world’s greatest democracy activist, Field Marshal Zelensky, seems to be suspending democracy in Ukraine,” sneered former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, who is one of the most influential voices among ultraconservatives in the United States. At the same time, Ukrainian activists and Western politicians such as Tiny Kox, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, have also expressed concern.
Ukraine is not the first country to experience the conflict between war and democracy. Great Britain, for example, did not hold elections during the Second World War. The MPs elected in 1935 stayed in office for 10 years. When deciding for or against elections, Kiev has to weigh up complex security, democratic and foreign policy aspects.
In principle, the legal situation is clearly regulated: Article 19 of the law on the state of war prohibits the holding of elections. According to Article 83 of the Constitution, the term of office of MPs is automatically extended until they are removed. With martial law prohibiting large gatherings, campaigning is also virtually impossible. This means that democracy is put into a dormant state.
Volodymyr Zelensky vor dem Parlament
The Ukrainian President will no longer hold elections this year.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
In reality, the Russian missile attacks make it practically impossible to guarantee a safe election. Moscow could even target him to show Kiev’s weakness. In areas close to the front, the fighting has severely damaged the infrastructure, officials, police and politicians have to concentrate on ensuring the survival of the population.
In addition, there are administrative difficulties that can hardly be solved in the short term: around eight million Ukrainians have fled abroad, where there are hardly any opportunities to vote. There are six million displaced people inside Ukraine. Then there are the tens of thousands of dead who are still on the electoral register.
This has not been updated since the beginning of the Russian invasion, corresponding plans are to be presented in the autumn. It would be completely unclear how to deal with the occupied territories: millions of people who theoretically have the right to vote in Ukraine live here too.
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It cannot be denied that President Zelenskiy gained political dominance as a result of the war, which is problematic in terms of democratic politics. The major television stations continue to produce propaganda uniform news, and there is a growing tendency to withhold important information from the public under the pretext of secrecy. In business, nationalizations of companies have increased the power of opaque groups in the background. Although Kiev repeatedly deposes corrupt officials, the approach remains selective.
Parliament essentially acts as an extension of the presidential office, where Zelenskiy and his advisers make many key decisions. However, there are hardly any signs of abuse of their constitutional powers or even political persecution of opponents.
Political scientists also point out that postponing the election would not be in Zelensky’s interest if he were aiming to consolidate his power. Only the security forces are more popular with the population than the president. His party would probably receive an even larger majority than in 2019. After all, voters are not inclined to experiment in times of war.
Zelensky appeases the impatient with a promise that victory is near and will fix the problem. However, the slow course of the Ukrainian offensive means that a quick liberation of the occupied areas is a long way off. In the longer term, Ukrainians will even have to deal with the possibility that hope for a
reclaiming all lost territories is an illusion.
Election winner Selenski in 2019
In the past parliamentary elections, Volodymyr Zelensky won – here with First Lady Olena. At that time it was not foreseeable that Russia would involve the country in a bloody war just three years later.
(Foto: action press)
In the short term, the current course of the war means that, in addition to the parliamentary elections, the election for the presidency in the spring is becoming increasingly uncertain. Should this be postponed to an indefinite future, however, international pressure would also increase on Zelensky to hold any election, even under difficult conditions.
If this doesn’t go well, no one will complain, Tiny Cox said. “But without elections, democracy is impossible,” said the MEP. In such a case, no one could guarantee that the standards expected of an EU candidate country would be met.
No doubt skeptics and enemies of Ukraine would cite irregularities as evidence of the eastern European state’s democratic immaturity. There are no really good solutions for reconciling democracy and war.
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