Right before the paywall in this very article:
Ukraine’s constitution is confusing. Article 103 states that the president is elected for a five-year term; but Article 108 says that he or she exercises power until a new president is inaugurated. A longstanding law (though not a constitutional provision) says that elections cannot be held when martial law is in force, as it has been in Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Having read about this before, I can say that The Economist is wrong. It is a constitutional provision in Ukraine.
They also banned or nationalized many media outlets, censor media in general, and suspended eleven political parties during his term, which eventually became permanent bans.
Al Jazeera, Mar. 2022: Why did Ukraine suspend 11 ‘pro-Russia’ parties?
Europe is no bastion for frozen peaches, either. AP, Mar. 2024: EU bans 4 more Russian media outlets from broadcasting in the bloc, citing disinformation
Wild how upset people get when you point out basic facts of the situation.
Cause the people supporting Ukraine are either ignorant of or deny every basic fact of the situation. You’re ruining their Marvel movie view of the world
In virtually every war in these Burgerlanders’ lifetimes, their country has been on the morally & militarily losing side. They desperately, desperately want a moral & military victory for once, even moreso now that Biden has proven to be Genocider in Chief.
There may be extenuating circumstances…
Is that also why they banned all those opposition parties? They were just getting in the way of executing the war?
As with Japan 大政翼賛会
War is not popular when it is not going well.
There’s extenuating circumstances!
You’re anti-democratic.
No surprise there. They support an imperialist proxy war, why wouldn’t they overlook this
Last I checked, Russia held elections, but I guess cancelling the elections aligns closer with western values.
- The Russian election was a joke and you know it.
- Russia is currently not being invaded so there is no reason to cancel elections there.
- Canceling elections does generally not align with “western” democratic values.
No, I don’t know that. Even western media admits that Putin has over 80% support. Meanwhile, using a war as an excuse for a regime holding on to power without a mandate is not democracy. If people of Ukraine wanted to fight the invasion then they’d vote Zelensky back in. It’s that simple.
No, “western” media reports that Putin got more than 80% of the votes in an election that was obviously rigged. Holding democratic elections is anything but simple and in a country fighting an invasion it’s practically impossible.
The Putler puppets at The Time seem to be reporting this, but do go on. 🤡
Meanwhile, you’ll have to explain to us all why holding democratic elections in a country fighting an invasion is practically impossible. Presumably, if the government had popular support for fighting, then it would win by a landslide. The only thing that makes impossible is the fact that people don’t actually want to fight, and the government is a western puppet regime that’s sacrificing people of Ukraine to serve western interests. This is why they literally kidnap people off the street, which is some more ruzzian propaganda reported by NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/world/europe/ukraine-military-recruitment.html
It’s so funny to read ya from Russia. The lack of research is showing.
profile picture checks out
I love how western media lies until it backs you up.
Please do enlighten us what reason you imagine western media has to lie about this. Should be good.
I’m not saying they are or they aren’t.
I’m pointing out your habit of saying Western Media™ is lying, until it supports one of your talking points.
You’ve been posting a lot of reasonable stuff lately, but now here you are shilling for Russia again.
My habit is to point when western media twists the truth because it has obvious biases. The fact that the media in the west has been saying how Russian army is collapsing for the past two years, and it’s now starting to admit that the opposite is the case is just one example. I’ve been saying the same thing consistently for the past two years, and I’m proven right by the facts on the ground time and again. If you consider engaging with reality as Russian shilling then what else is there to say to you.
20% of Ukraine is currently occupied by a hostile foreign power. 0% of Russia is occupied.
Also, Russian elections give whatever results Putin wants, so the status of the electorate doesn’t really matter in the first place there.
Would that be the same 20% of Ukraine that was in civil war with the rest of Ukraine after the coup in 2014 by any chance? Meanwhile, even western media admits that Putin has massive popular support https://time.com/6977473/putin-opposition-movement-unity/
Russia did hold elections and is “liberal democratic” but Russia has hardly been turned into a warzone in the same way. There are probably other examples worth citing.
The point here is that if fighting Russia was a popular opinion in Ukraine, then the government would win by a landslide.
But there are some logistical difficulties involved in holding an election in a country currently being invaded, especially with the invasion being broadly successful.
The state is functional in non occupied territories, so organising elections, something that have tried and tested procedures should be doable pretty easily. If anything, single look at previous elections map means that, even without banning opposition, territories most supportive for the government and Ukraine are still in and separatists and opposition are out, so it should be a landslide victory (especially that opposition is banned).
lincoln managed to hold and win an election while half the US was under control of slavers.
the slavers of course did not hold elections.
hmm hmm. all this in the 19th century, with 19th century logistics.
anyway, ukraine cant hold elections clearly.
That seems like a pretty weak excuse for cancelling the election, especially given that it would effectively be a referendum on whether to continue the war or not.
Noone in US or EU would care about expiration of Zelensky’s presidential term as long as he’s reliable supplier of cannon fodder for proxy NATO-Russia war. Roosevelt’s words on Somoza ("he may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch’) would apply here as well.
Ah yes worldnews.lm the place where dictators are the good guy
Seriously… This is just sad to see.