Ukraine's Parliament to research foreign experience of holding elections in wartime

Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament), appealed to the parliaments of other countries to help in research of holding elections during a war.

Source: Interfax-Ukraine news agency, quoting Stefanchuk

Quote: "I appealed to my fellow parliamentarians from many parliaments with a request: please provide us with the experience of your parliaments, how you conducted or did not conduct elections during the war.

And now we are exchanging these experiences. I think we will have a solution soon."

"But at the same time, there are certain inconsistencies in Ukrainian legislation regarding the possibility or impossibility of holding elections both at the parliamentary level and at the presidential level. We are now discussing these issues."

Details: According to Stefanchuk, in order to hold elections during the war, it is necessary to solve "five or six" very important problems, the first of which is how to ensure the right of Ukrainian servicemen to vote and be elected into civilian offices. 

The second issue that needs to be resolved for the elections, Stefanchuk said, is how Ukrainian refugees will participate in the voting, with about 7 million of them staying abroad.

He added it is also necessary to solve the issue of how to organise elections in the temporarily occupied territories and the issue of financing. The question of free access to the media during the election campaign also remains open.

"And during this period, we need to understand how to ensure free access to the media, but at the same time to prevent Russia from using freedom of speech to spread its narratives inside the country," the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament said.

Stefanchuk also noted that there are even smaller issues related to the holding of elections. "But I think when we find answers to these main five [questions – ed.], Ukraine can decide to hold elections," Stefanchuk said.

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