Zelensky told reporters in the Oval office, being next to Trump that it was impossible to hold elections during the war.
“We need a truce everywhere – on the battlefield, in the sky and at sea, so that people can hold democratic, open and legal elections,” the Ukrainian president answered a question of the media.
After that, Trump added that in three and a half years, if the United States “suddenly finds himself with someone”, the elections “will no longer be” (there will be no more “(It made fun of Zelensky. – “GORDON”)?
As CNN specified, it was then that the second term of Trump should end.
“Oh, it's good,” Trump said jokingly.
Context
The last time the presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine in 2019. In the spring of 2024, the presidential election was to be held, but in Art. 19 The Law of Ukraine on the legal regime of martial law states that in the conditions of martial law (this regime in Ukraine is valid since February 24, 2022), it is forbidden to hold presidential and parliamentary elections.
On February 1, 2025, the specialized US presidential support for Ukraine Keith Kellogs said that if a truce is announced in the war in the coming months, The United States expects to hold elections in Ukraine until the end of 2025. February 19 Trump called Zelensky “Dictator without elections”, for which He was criticized Some foreign leaders. Zelensky then replied that the question of elections in Ukraine First of all, Russia raises, because it “needs a puppet president.”
On March 31, in an interview with Ukrainian Pravda, the head of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine Oleg Didenko stated that after the cancellation of martial law, the Rada would need to make changes to the electoral legislation, and citizens of Ukraine who have left the country must pass “active registration” – The procedure that will create the required number of polling stations outside the diplomatic missions of Kyiv abroad. Didenko later said that preparation for elections in Ukraine after the cancellation of martial law It will take time, but it is impossible to postpone them for a long time.
