Arya News - Ukraine`s Volodymyr Zelensky responded to calls by Donald Trump for elections by agreeing to them, but only if the United States could protect voters.
Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine could hold elections within the next three months in response to allegations by U.S. President Donald Trump that Kyiv was using the war as an excuse to stay in power.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday evening, Zelensky said he was ready for elections and would seek to hold them on condition that the United States and other allies provided guarantees to keep voters safe at a time when Ukraine"s cities were under attack day and night.
"I"m asking now, and stating this openly, for the U.S. to help me. Together with our European partners, we can ensure the security needed to hold elections. If that happens, Ukraine will be ready to conduct elections in the next 60 to 90 days," said Zelensky.
"I personally have the will and readiness for this," he added, saying that he had instructed lawmakers to come with proposals to amend legislation that currently prohibits the holding of elections while the country is under a state of martial law.
"I"m waiting for proposals from our partners, expecting suggestions from our lawmakers, and I am ready to go to the elections," Zelensky said.
Zelensky"s comments came after Trump, in an interview with Politico , said "it"s time" for Ukraine to hold an election because it was getting to the point where it was no longer a democracy.
"I think it"s an important time to hold an election. You know, they"re using war not to hold an election, but I would think the Ukrainian people would, you know, should have that choice. And maybe Zelensky would win. I don"t know who would win, but they haven"t had an election in a long time," Trump said.
"You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it"s not a democracy anymore."
Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, meaning that Zelensky has remained in office long beyond the expiration of his five-year term in May 2024.
Zelensky said in September that he would not run for a second term, saying his goal was to serve his country amid a crisis and finish the war, not win elections.
The offer represents a new position for his administration. For the first half of the war it completely rejected suggestions that elections should be held before relenting to U.S. pressure and saying toward the end of 2024 that it would consider holding elections if a cease-fire were implemented.
A significant majority of Ukrainians say elections should be held only after the war ends, with only around a fifth in favor of elections following a cease-fire. Support for Zelensky is also down markedly, after a recent corruption scandal involving some of his close associates.
Critics warn of numerous pitfalls of elections, ranging from the logistical issue of people being in the wrong places with large numbers of Ukrainians displaced internally, 4 million refugees overseas and 1 million mobilized in the military. There is also the question of how to include Ukrainians living in regions of the country occupied by Russia.
"In order for these elections to be fair all of the people of Ukraine would need to be allowed to vote," Ukrainian opposition MP Lesia Vasylenko told the BBC.
"Elections are never possible in wartime."
The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand all held elections during World War II with only Britain effectively suspending democracy in favor of a government of national unity through July 1945. However, Britain was the only nation under direct, sustained attack and imminent threat of invasion.
Tuesday"s moves came amid a U.S. drive to broker a peace deal that was making little to no headway in bridging the gap between Moscow, which is demanding Ukraine cede territory and demilitarize and Kyiv, which has vowed not to give up land or cut the size of its military without cast-iron security guarantees.