Right before the paywall in this very article:
Ukraine’s constitution is confusing. Article 103 states that the president is elected for a five-year term; but Article 108 says that he or she exercises power until a new president is inaugurated. A longstanding law (though not a constitutional provision) says that elections cannot be held when martial law is in force, as it has been in Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Having read about this before, I can say that The Economist is wrong. It is a constitutional provision in Ukraine.
They also banned or nationalized many media outlets, censor media in general, and suspended eleven political parties during his term, which eventually became permanent bans.
Al Jazeera, Mar. 2022: Why did Ukraine suspend 11 ‘pro-Russia’ parties?
Europe is no bastion for frozen peaches, either. AP, Mar. 2024: EU bans 4 more Russian media outlets from broadcasting in the bloc, citing disinformation
Wild how upset people get when you point out basic facts of the situation.
Cause the people supporting Ukraine are either ignorant of or deny every basic fact of the situation. You’re ruining their Marvel movie view of the world
There may be extenuating circumstances…
Is that also why they banned all those opposition parties? They were just getting in the way of executing the war?
You’re anti-democratic.
No surprise there. They support an imperialist proxy war, why wouldn’t they overlook this
There’s extenuating circumstances!
Last I checked, Russia held elections, but I guess cancelling the elections aligns closer with western values.
- The Russian election was a joke and you know it.
- Russia is currently not being invaded so there is no reason to cancel elections there.
- Canceling elections does generally not align with “western” democratic values.
No, I don’t know that. Even western media admits that Putin has over 80% support. Meanwhile, using a war as an excuse for a regime holding on to power without a mandate is not democracy. If people of Ukraine wanted to fight the invasion then they’d vote Zelensky back in. It’s that simple.
No, “western” media reports that Putin got more than 80% of the votes in an election that was obviously rigged. Holding democratic elections is anything but simple and in a country fighting an invasion it’s practically impossible.
The Putler puppets at The Time seem to be reporting this, but do go on. 🤡
Meanwhile, you’ll have to explain to us all why holding democratic elections in a country fighting an invasion is practically impossible. Presumably, if the government had popular support for fighting, then it would win by a landslide. The only thing that makes impossible is the fact that people don’t actually want to fight, and the government is a western puppet regime that’s sacrificing people of Ukraine to serve western interests. This is why they literally kidnap people off the street, which is some more ruzzian propaganda reported by NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/world/europe/ukraine-military-recruitment.html
Russia did hold elections and is “liberal democratic” but Russia has hardly been turned into a warzone in the same way. There are probably other examples worth citing.
The point here is that if fighting Russia was a popular opinion in Ukraine, then the government would win by a landslide.
But there are some logistical difficulties involved in holding an election in a country currently being invaded, especially with the invasion being broadly successful.
That seems like a pretty weak excuse for cancelling the election, especially given that it would effectively be a referendum on whether to continue the war or not.
20% of Ukraine is currently occupied by a hostile foreign power. 0% of Russia is occupied.
Also, Russian elections give whatever results Putin wants, so the status of the electorate doesn’t really matter in the first place there.
Would that be the same 20% of Ukraine that was in civil war with the rest of Ukraine after the coup in 2014 by any chance? Meanwhile, even western media admits that Putin has massive popular support https://time.com/6977473/putin-opposition-movement-unity/
