A senior US official told The Washington Post that the Biden administration is not pressuring Ukraine to hold elections, while some Western officials do want to see a wartime vote.
“We’re not pushing them to have an election,” the unnamed official said. The Post report said that the Biden administration was “sympathetic” to the logistical obstacles to holding a vote, which includes the fact that millions of Ukrainian refugees are in Europe.
The administration’s position runs counter to its rhetoric about the war, which it has framed as a battle for democracy. Ukraine’s constitution prohibits elections during martial law, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed an openness to holding elections if the West foots the bill.
Zelensky made the comments last month after receiving a visit from Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). According to the Post, the senators pressed Zelensky on holding elections, an idea initially floated by Tiny Kox, a Dutch politician serving as the head of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.
The Post report quoted former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who said Ukraine would lose the war if elections were held. “The price of holding elections in wartime will be a lost war,” she said. “Unity is an indispensable resource for our victory.”
There is a precedent for holding a wartime vote, as the US held presidential elections at the height of the Civil War in 1864. President Lincoln’s opponent, George B. McClellan, wanted to pursue peace with the Confederacy to end the war.
Over the summer, Ukraine extended martial law until November 15, pushing back parliamentary elections scheduled for October. Martial law will be extended as long as there is a war, and there’s no sign the conflict will end by March 2024, when Ukraine’s next presidential election is set to be held.
Ukraine’s martial law prohibits men ages 18-60 from leaving the country. In March 2022, Zelensky used his martial law powers to ban 11 opposition parties and nationalize TV media.
There are so many options for smartass comments here that I’m having trouble picking one.
The day is long, we’ve got the time, we’d love to read them.:-)
I agree. Same here. But, sorry. Bad news. Someone already invented the best one. It’s “LOL!”
(Sarcasm)
“You don’t need to worry about rigging elections when you don’t hold them in the first place”
“European democracy triumphs as Ukrainian president is reelected in a unanimous vote of the brave Ukrainian people.”
I’m sure Biden would just love to cancel his own upcoming election cycle.
He must be dreaming about that whenever he closes his eyes. That could be why he can’t manage to keep his eyes open. Either that or all the plastic surgery to tighten his skin. What is even crazier? Did you notice how when his eyes are open, they never blink? A second later he can’t manage to keep his eyes open? …I know. …I’m disgusted but still can’t look away as if I’m observing a train wreck. (Sarcasm)
Reptilian transplants.
The DOJ is hard at work on it
Of course, Biden wants to keep his lapdog as long as possible…!
Second of course, War ($) over Democracy…!
i have to fix my daughter’s car AND do her taxes
but here is some real GIRL POWER right here =
I vote for her to be the next Ukrainian President! (Sarcasm)
They’re pressuring Ukraine not to hold elections with the same force they were using to pressure Syria to hold its elections during its war. Regardless, if the election result does not suit our purposes, we discard them. That’s exactly what we mean by “Freedom and Democracy.” It’s our “Freedom” to take away your “Democracy!” (Sarcasm)
Again, all opposition parties are banned, dissent has been criminalized, all that exists is state media. So who would be in the race, Zelensky v Zelensky? I’m sure he’d like more funding that he could pocket offshore while engaging in another round of bad thespian.
Washington doesn’t want the Ukraine to hold elections because Zelensky is facing a massive disapproval rating from Ukrainians and he’s not likely to be re-elected (barring some event that will no doubt bear the fingerprints of V Nuland). Zelensky says he wants elections if someone else will pay for them, which tells me he’s looking for a way out with the option to get his hands on those election funds as he heads out the door- he knows his chances for re-election are slim and he’s probably looking to cash out. (Besides, he’s got to pay for the upkeep on that $4m mansion his *mother in law* bought in Egypt, right?)
Elections are a farce anyhow; just look at the US where elections equate to democracy according to many including Biden. Democracy is governance by the people, not just electing people who then perform for their financial benefactors not the citizens.
Freedom and democracy right? According to Zelenski elections would be anti democratic. What a joke it has all become. Up is Down, Black is White, its all just big lies after big lies.
Ukraine sovereignty was overthrown in 2014 when NATO ran a violent Nazi coup that started a war on humanity.