this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
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[–] Meltrax@lemmy.world 161 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Zelensky follows the laws in the Ukraine Constitution while the country continues to be at war"

  • FTFY, dickbag headline writer
[–] 6daemonbag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 11 months ago

Yeah didn't this come up as a clickbait non-issue last year?

[–] whileloop@lemmy.world 65 points 1 year ago (10 children)

I wonder how many people actually have a problem with this. Very few I'd suspect. Zelensky still seems popular within Ukraine, and I think most would agree that this isn't a good time for a change in leadership. Plus elections are expensive and nobody in the occupied space would be able to vote. Yeah I think this was the right call.

[–] fluke@lemmy.world 43 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yes. This is a inflammatory headline purely to try and push an agenda.

There was literally a poll a couple of months ago that showed something like 80% of Ukrainians were in favour of not having elections.

Not to even mention that Ukraine is under Marshall Law, and per their laws disallows elections. And don't even get me started on the entire premise of running elections in a country where a quarter of the landmass is under enemy occupation and the logistics of getting votes from 100s of thousands of deployed troops and the serious security concerns of the election itself from Russian attacks.

In my opinion Newsweek have just outed themselves here and the question is for who?

[–] whileloop@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Probably trying to paint a narrative that Zelensky is undemocratic and corrupt, which some people in the US might believe.

[–] TheUsualButBlaBlaBla@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Most of my Ukranian friends would not vote for him in an election, it’s a bit of an ‘open secret’ in the country that he’s seen as a wartime leader who would be expected to step aside in peacetime.

[–] Hubi@feddit.de 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not much of a secret, he has said so himself.

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Did he at least whisper it?

[–] JungleJim@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He was a stand up comedian before? Seems like he thought he'd be a peacetime leader.

[–] stella@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why would they choose someone else, though?

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because he barely had any experience in diplomatic relations before being thrust into Ukrainian Ultimate Commander. He unfortunately has become a wartime politician, even though that was never his intentions.

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[–] netburnr@lemmy.world 50 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Newsweek is trash for that headline.

[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Usually they have a "fairness meter" on their articles, but it seems to be missing from this one.

[–] Covoid@lemm.ee 39 points 1 year ago

I don't think this is unreasonable. Citizens in occupied territory won't be able to vote and elections would just add pressure to a country that's fighting a major conflict on its own soil.

However I would expect Zelensky to hold free and fair elections as soon as the conflict ends, especially if he wants Ukraine to be part of the EU and eventually NATO

[–] Auzy@beehaw.org 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

How do you expect Elections to work? All the soldiers take a few hours off of fighting to put their ballots in?

The rest of the citizens amass themselves in a few concentrated areas?

People who are being bombed or in hiding from russia leave their shelters and are exposed for the day? I'm sure if they wear an official uniform, that Russian soldiers won't be tempted to copy the uniform, and replace the ballots.

So, who wants to volunteer to hand out the ballot papers? I'm sure Putin would be more than happy to

[–] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I can see his point. They're in the middle of a fight for their existence. Why would you hold an election, particularly if he's doing a good job of it? Yes, I concede that this is a slippery slope for democracy, in that this is the very rationale that dictators use to shore up power. However, the grounds that they make those claims are usually against imagined foes rather than an actual country invading yours.

Day 1 after they kick russia out permanently? Election.

[–] sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Day 1 after they kick russia out permanently? Election.

You'd actually want to schedule it a bit further out than this. Once the war is over, political parties will need to time organize, build infrastructure and campaign in an environment where the weather isn't "sunny with a chance of bombs later". Holding elections, with any sort of opposition having not had time to campaign is one of the more insidious anti-democratic tricks. As it leads to people voting for the "devil they know", even if the opposition isn't a devil at all.

[–] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 year ago

I'm with you, I'm just being illustrative here.

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[–] scorpionix@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago

Why would you hold an election, particularly if he’s doing a good job of it?

Well, that's up for debate and should be decided by the people. As you said: It's a slippery slope and I'll add the way to hell is paved with good intentions.

[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Seems reasonable for now.

[–] ares35@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (16 children)

it's not that he is refusing to hold elections. headline is, of course, misleading.

the country's constitution literally prohibits elections during martial law, a state the country has been in since the day russia started the war.

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[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 3 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


"We all understand that now, in wartime, when there are many challenges, it is utterly irresponsible to engage in topics related to an election in such a frivolous manner," Zelensky said in his nightly video address to the nation on Monday.

Prior to the war, Ukraine's presidential elections were scheduled for March 2024, but the country's constitution mandates that they cannot go ahead until any declaration of martial law is lifted, which is unlikely to happen in the near future.

Zelensky first declared martial law on February 24, 2022, the day Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of his country.

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexey Danilov has also said that "no elections can be held" under martial law in the country.

Days earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said during an online appearance at the World Policy Conference in the United Arab Emirates that Zelensky was weighing the pros and cons of a presidential vote in spring 2024.

The Ukrainian leader's approval rating in Ukraine remains near the record-highs set shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of the country began, data from Gallup shows.


The original article contains 423 words, the summary contains 188 words. Saved 56%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Really disappointing how quickly the west turned on Ukraine so they could go off to fund a genocide. They really are min-maxing for fascism.

Did you read a different article?

[–] EthicalAI@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago

Based comment

[–] DieguiTux8623@feddit.it 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

A pure and true example of Democracy™ which all European countries should imitate. Elections are a waste of money, and if there is more than one party are a threat to political stability. Let's abolish all elections altogether./s

[–] iAmTheTot@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd be interested to see the comments if this were Putin.

[–] nicetriangle@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Feel free to check back in with us when Russia is the victim of a major invasion

[–] iAmTheTot@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (8 children)

I'm just not sure why being the invaded party is the deciding factor here. Do the people not get a say in who leads their defense, only their offense?

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