Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims that 90% of Ukrainians do not support holding elections in the context of a full-scale war.
He said this in an interview with Politico after the Munich Security Conference on February 14.
According to Zelensky, he personally is not against holding elections, but most Ukrainians understand that without a ceasefire and under shelling, it is "terrible".
It is unclear how the military at the front and the eight million Ukrainians who have left abroad will vote during the war, the president added.
At the same time, Zelensky stressed that if the US President Donald Trump forces Putin to cease fire for two to three months, elections in Ukraine are possible.
Elections in Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyʼs term was supposed to end in May 2024, and the Verkhovna Radaʼs term was supposed to end in October 2023, but elections cannot be held due to the war. The Constitution does not directly prohibit elections during martial law, such a ban is contained in the law "On the Legal Regime of Martial Law".
At the same time, the Constitution contains a number of requirements for elections and referendums that cannot be fulfilled during active hostilities. Therefore, Ukraine insists that elections are possible only under the condition of a ceasefire and security guarantees.
However, Russia regularly demands elections and calls the current government illegitimate. The United States has also joined these demands. President Donald Trump said in an interview on December 9 that “the time has come” to hold elections in Ukraine.
Zelensky responded the same day that he was ready to hold elections and “is not holding on” to the presidency. But the issues of security, voting by the military, and the legal basis for the legitimacy of the elections remain.
At the end of December, the Verkhovna Rada created a working group to promptly address the issue of a possible presidential election during martial law.
In January 2026, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Oleh Didenko presented the CECʼs proposals for holding the elections. The Commission proposes to establish a six-month preparatory period after the end of martial law and before the start of the electoral process.
At the same time, the terms of the electoral process remain unchanged — 90 days for the elections of the President of Ukraine and 60 days for the elections of the MPs of Ukraine.
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