Zelenskyy says he is ready to hold elections "tomorrow, but..."

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed that elections cannot be held while active hostilities continue due to a number of factors: legislation, the logistics of organising voting abroad and in temporarily occupied territories, and safety concerns.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with CBS

Quote: "I am ready to do it [hold elections – ed.] tomorrow. But if we have the war, you can't do it according not only to the constitution and the election law, [but] according to security first of all. Children can't go to school. How do you want to make elections? What elections? How to make elections with the 9 million people who are abroad?"

Details: Zelenskyy said that normally around 500,000 Ukrainians would vote abroad. He also mentioned the people who are living in temporarily occupied territories.

"Will they vote? How will they vote? Who will control their voting? There are Russian soldiers there," the president said.

Zelenskyy pointed out that Ukraine has repeatedly proposed a ceasefire that could be used to prepare for elections and as a step towards de-escalation and ending the war, but Russia has rejected these proposals.

When the interviewer noted that some people from the country's higher echelons of power, including former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, are calling for elections to be held, Zelenskyy said he considers this a mistake. He said he believes that these people "want to be in politics".

Quote: "I think it's a mistake. During the war, peace is [priority] number one. Politics is not even number two. Even for politicians, it's number 10. For people, it's number 100. The priorities are [different]. How to survive, how to live, how to go to school, as I said. What to do with all of this?"

Background:

• In an address on 18 August, Fedorov called for measures to ensure that Russia does not get to decide when Ukrainians can once again elect their government.
• A source from the President's Office told the BBC that Fedorov's idea of holding elections demonstrates a "lack of realism".
• Fedorov's team told Ukrainska Pravda that his call for elections did not mean he wanted them "tomorrow", but was intended to highlight the need to make thorough preparations and resolve all the issues related to the process in detail.

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