“Time has come,” US President Donald Trump said recently, calling on Ukraine to hold presidential elections. It was not the first time the White House had voiced a similar view. On previous occasions, Trump even referred to the head of the Ukrainian state as a “dictator without elections.” This time, however, he framed his argument as a call for realism, suggesting that elections — which he claimed “have not been held for a long time” — could somehow help bring the Russian-Ukrainian war to an end.
Following these signals from the United States, Ukraine’s president asked the Verkhovna Rada to prepare legislation allowing for the possibility of elections under martial law. The Ukrainian Week spoke with experts to assess the implications and practicality of holding elections under such conditions.
No drafts and no instructions
“It’s hard for me to explain why the president of Ukraine, as the guarantor of the Constitution, is making such statements,” Andriy Mahera, a former deputy head of the Central Election Commission and a constitutional law expert at the Centre of Policy and Legal Reforms, told The Ukrainian Week. “Perhaps he is trying to engage in a debate with the White House administration, which has been pressing on these issues. But that debate should be conducted strictly on the basis of constitutional and international law.”
Mahera points out that Washington could easily be reminded of historical precedent. During the Second World War, he notes, US President Franklin Roosevelt did not pressure British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to hold elections for the House of Commons in 1940, even though its five-year term had already expired. “At the time, Britain was in what was known as a ‘long’ parliament, which ran from 1935 to 1945,” Mahera explains. “Elections were held only on 8 July 1945 — after Nazi Germany had surrendered and hostilities had ended.”
Following Zelenskyy’s remarks, Ukraine’s political scene has seen little immediate movement. A day later, members of the ruling Servant of the People party had yet to present any draft legislation on wartime elections to the president. Lawmakers from the parliamentary majority also emphasised that they had not received any direct instructions on the issue. “As of now, the subcommittee has not received any assignments,” Alina Zahoruyko, chair of the parliamentary subcommittee on elections, referendums and other forms of direct democracy, told The Ukrainian Week.
First Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Korniyenko confirmed the absence of any draft legislation in comments to Rada TV and later clarified to Suspilne: “This was more an instruction to his political team. But we are not rushing to draft a bill today.”
He added that any attempt to move forward would first require a thorough discussion involving parliament, the government, and civil society. “To begin this process, everyone needs to sit down together, talk it through, and work out where we can go from here,” Korniyenko said.
Oleksii Koshel, head of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU), says Ukrainian authorities have made repeated attempts in recent years to lay the groundwork for elections.
“We’ve seen campaigns launch, headquarters spring into action, public debates flare up, and officials claim that holding elections would require only changes to legislation, not amendments to the Constitution,” Koshel said. He notes that Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk took this position in 2023, insisting that the Constitution does not prohibit elections.
In July 2023, Stefanchuk explained on Ukraine’s United News broadcast service that the only restriction comes from the Law ‘On the Legal Regime of Martial Law.’ “There is no constitutional ban on holding elections during martial law,” he said.
Experts say wartime elections are impossible
So, is there any legal basis for holding Ukraine’s first wartime elections? This question goes beyond hypothetical changes to the Law “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law” or the Electoral Code — at its heart, it concerns the Constitution of Ukraine. Andriy Mahera notes that Article 64 of the Basic Law sets out a list of protected rights and freedoms that cannot be restricted, even under martial law. “Electoral rights are not included in that list. On top of that, the Constitution explicitly forbids any amendments during martial law. Article 157 makes this absolutely clear,” Mahera explains.
He adds that holding elections in the midst of active hostilities is simply impossible. Any process that does not comply with the principles of electoral law, as defined in Articles 70 and 71 of the Constitution, cannot, by definition, be considered a legitimate election.
“The principles of electoral law aren’t from the Constitution — they come from, among other things, the 1966 UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” adds the former deputy head of the Central Election Commission.
Oleksii Koshel, head of the CVU, also points out that the Constitution contains an explicit ban on holding parliamentary elections, and the same logic applies to presidential and local elections.
“That’s why elections weren’t held even in communities where there was an urgent need. For example, a military administration was set up in the city of Hostomel precisely because holding elections under martial law is impossible. That said, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a political and legal decision being made to allow it,” Koshel explains.
At the same time, such elections are increasingly being treated as a bargaining chip in potential deals to end the Russian war in Ukraine. One of the latest drafts of a US “peace plan,” for example, suggested holding elections 100 days after an agreement was signed. Koshel describes Trump’s recent calls for wartime elections as an “exchange of blows” in the search for compromise during negotiations. He adds that including an electoral process in peace talks could extend them by up to five months. “We need several months to prepare for the elections, plus time for the voting process itself,” the CVU head explains.
Challenges: security, legitimacy and legal aspects
In the Verkhovna Rada, lawmakers say they’re ready to lay out a legal “framework” for holding elections during the war, but First Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Korniyenko warns it would be a huge challenge without strong security measures in place.
“That means making sure voters abroad are safe, even though most won’t want to return to a country under bombardment — the very reason they left. It also affects servicemen on the front lines; we can’t just overlook hundreds of thousands of voters. Then there’s the issue of internally displaced people and the voter register, which would mean giving the Central Election Commission more authority and setting clear security rules for the elections. That covers everything from campaigning to running polling stations, especially in frontline areas,” he explains.
Oleksii Koshel also warns of the serious risk of Russian interference in any election, arguing that Moscow would use a vote to undermine its legitimacy. “Unlike in EU countries or the West, where Russian interference is usually limited to cyberattacks, in Ukraine it could take far more direct and violent forms — such as staging terrorist attacks or planting explosives at polling stations to intimidate voters and suppress turnout,” he says.
Beyond questions of legitimacy, holding elections during the war also raises legal concerns — namely, whether they would comply with Ukraine’s Constitution. Mahera, a former member of the Central Election Commission, stresses that any such vote would need to be recognised both inside Ukraine and internationally.
“Otherwise, Putin will be the first to refuse to recognise the results of any election that violates core principles. He will do it openly and cynically. We need to keep that in mind,” Mahera warns.
In the end, whether Ukraine holds wartime elections will be shown by time — and there isn’t much of it. Changes in the US president’s stance could also be a deciding factor. One thing, however, is becoming increasingly clear: running elections during the war without major risks or breaking the Constitution is extremely difficult — if it’s even possible at all.
