Why Abraham Lincoln’s example shows Zelenskiy is “bluffing” about elections
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week insisted that Ukraine would “hold elections” if a two-month ceasefire was reached between Ukraine and Russia.
As outlined in a post at 12:27, former Ukrainian military commander Valery Zarzhiny may be in a good position to challenge the presidential election.
However, as President Zelenskiy has previously insisted, elections will only be held if the country’s security is guaranteed by allies.
Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, and Zelensky’s presidential term was originally scheduled to end in May 2024.
In yesterday’s Weekly Ukraine War Q&A, military analyst Michael Clarke said all may not be as it seems here.
“I think it’s Mr. Zelensky’s bluff on this,” he said.
“That would be very difficult.”
Part of the reason is, “We’re talking about a lot of displaced people, people who can’t vote because they’re in occupied territory, millions of people who are here.”
Voting during wartime is extremely rare.
Mr. Clark said Mr. Zelenskyy “knows that there will be no elections,” pointing to a joke Mr. Zelenskyy made at last week’s Munich Security Conference.
President Zelensky declared with a smile, “If Russia holds free elections, Ukraine will also hold free elections.”
Clark also said he couldn’t think of an example of an election being held in a country “where people are fighting for their lives in their territory.”
He said it may be reminiscent of the 1864 U.S. election in which Abraham Lincoln was reelected for a second term as president during the Civil War. That’s the closest we’ve gotten.
“Still, it was a terrible election because Confederate states did not vote and many Union votes were cast but not counted.”
Read the full Q&A here…
