Ukraine's Postponed Elections: a Test of Democracy in Wartime

Under normal circumstances, Ukraine’s parliamentary elections would have been held in October 2023. Presidential elections would have followed in March 2024. But the circumstances are, of course, far from normal. Almost a fifth of Ukraine is occupied by Russian troops, millions of people are displaced and citizens across the country are subject to daily missile and drone attacks. Fedorov’s argument is that Ukraine is a free European state fighting to defend democracy.

It should not be the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who decides when Ukrainians get to choose their leaders, he argues. On the face of it, it seems a simple argument. What sets a democracy aside from an autocracy is that its leaders are genuinely accountable to the electorate and periodically face the voters in open, free and fair elections. Fedorov’s argument has reignited a debate that has echoes of talking points routinely aired by Putin, who has questioned Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s continued legitimacy.