EASTORA REPORT | “Is that fair?” Volodymyr Zelensky asked about an election in which Ukraine’s frontline soldiers could not vote. His answer was unequivocal: it would be “100% unfair.” He floated online voting as a way to reach them, but the country has neither a system ready nor a legal path to an election under martial law.
Speaking to German broadcaster ZDF, the Ukrainian president said troops opposed holding a vote under current conditions because they could not take part. “Millions of people are in the trenches,” he said, arguing that organising ballots for them was technically impossible. The soldiers who had preserved Ukraine’s independence, he added, should be among the first to choose its head of state.
That is the tension at the centre of his proposal. A vote could give Ukrainians a say in their political future, but holding one without the people fighting at the front would deny them that same choice. Zelensky said parliament would have to find a workable solution before online voting could be considered. He did not set a date or say that such a system had been agreed.
Nor would bringing the front line into an election settle every question. Millions of Ukrainians are abroad, and others live under Russian occupation. Each group presents a different obstacle to participation. A digital ballot does not itself answer who could safely vote, or how a credible election could be organised across those divides.
The legal obstacle is more immediate. Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and national elections are prohibited while it remains in force. The presidential vote expected in 2024 was not held. Online voting would not change that rule; lawmakers would have to address the law as well as the practical difficulties.
Zelensky also told ZDF he was ready for elections after the war and an orderly transition, rejecting the suggestion that he wanted to cling to power. His remarks leave open whether voting could happen earlier if conditions changed. For now, the question he raised has no technical or legal answer: how can Ukraine choose its next president if the soldiers he says should vote first c