Is the Presidential Office preparing for elections? Podolyak's explaination
Podolyak assures that as long as martial law is in effect in Ukraine, no one will be preparing for elections.
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Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President Mykhailo Podolyak / © Getty Images / © Getty Images
Currently, no organizational preparations for elections are taking place in Ukraine.
Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, stated this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
He reminds that there is a clear legal procedure for preparing and organizing elections, "which no one intends to abandon." Podolyak believes that changes to electoral legislation will be necessary, which is a rather complex process.
"The first stage is 3–6 months, more likely 6 months, considering everything, for election preparation — that is, organizing the process. At the same time, legislative changes will be introduced, because we understand that these will be post-war elections. There are certain nuances, and the Central Election Commission must propose changes to the legislation as such," the advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office says.
Podolyak assures that until a ceasefire and a temporary truce are reached, martial law will not be lifted. Accordingly, no elections can take place.
"No one will, so to speak, endanger people. That is, no one will violate constitutional provisions just because Russia somehow wants "elections." Russia is no longer, and never will be, a subject capable of influencing our internal politics," Podolyak emphasized.
Moreover, there is no possibility of organizing the electoral process from a security standpoint, as the ceasefire is not in effect. Russia continues to carry out numerous attacks daily and nightly.
The advisor to Yermak also pointed out the issue of internally displaced persons and how they would vote in the elections.
"It is necessary to clearly understand how we will work with a large number of internally displaced persons. This is an entirely different and significantly larger-scale task related to voter list registration and the designation of territorial electoral districts. These are quite complex processes, and they will not be resolved just because Russia wants something," Podolyak concluded.