Zelenskyy will not lose his legitimacy after 21 May – Minister of Justice

Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska believes that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not lose his legitimacy after his five-year term expires on 21 May 2024, and his powers will continue until the next head of state is elected.

Source: Denys Maliuska in an interview with BBC News Ukrainian

Quote: "No, he will not lose his legitimacy... The president's powers last until the next one is elected.

But many of the constitutional provisions are formulated in such a way that those who want to find something to complain about or build a conspiracy theory on something will find it.

Therefore, we should expect a lot of noise and shouting, especially based on the fact that the authors of the Constitution had little belief that a full-scale war involving Ukraine would become a reality and therefore behaved rather clumsily with regard to the relevant constitutional provisions.

Not just regarding terms of office, there are many other constitutional provisions relating to wartime that are not perfectly formulated, to put it mildly. This, of course, gives rise to various "conspiracy theories". One example is when someone posts something somewhere on social media, possibly something that is being spread by Russia that, for example, Ukraine has not declared a state of war."

Details: Asked whether it would be more appropriate to appeal to the body that interprets the Constitution, the Constitutional Court, to put the question of the president's legitimacy to rest, Maliuska said that in his opinion, it was too late to do so, and could even be harmful given the current situation.

Quote: "To be honest, this is definitely beyond my authority. I am not someone who can apply to the Constitutional Court.

Moreover, it is probably too late to do so now, because such an appeal would mean there are questions and doubts that are well-founded, and we need the authority of the Constitutional Court to resolve this situation.

Given the communication and security situation in the country, it would be a huge mistake to officially and publicly question the legitimacy of the president now, so I think it makes no sense to appeal to the Constitutional Court at this time. Someday, somewhere, it might be possible, but again, not at this stage."

Details: When asked if all the presidential decrees and documents from 21 May would be fully effective, the minister replied: "Absolutely. No president has ever worked from day to day, as the Constitution stipulates. The same applies to the parliament."

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