Ukraine, eyeing post-war elections, looks to European models

KYIV — Ukraine is studying European models of electoral law, including electronic voting, with an eye toward holding elections soon after the end of its war with Russia.

Holding free and fair elections will be key to normalizing the war-torn country — and to its ambitions to join the European Union.

“We need to understand how we can democratically hold elections using the best and most effective practices,” Olena Shuliak, chair of the Organization of State Power Committee in the Ukrainian parliament, told POLITICO.

Before the war, Ukraine was still conducting exclusively in-person voting for parliamentary, presidential and local elections. Meanwhile, there hasn’t been a national vote since 2019, meaning President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian parliament have overstayed their terms.

That’s because the constitution forbids holding elections during martial law and active warfare, as Kyiv can’t guarantee the safety and voting rights of all Ukrainians, such as soldiers and people living in Russian-occupied territories.

“We currently have a huge problem with the voter registry, because people have left [for] abroad,” Shuliak said. “According to various estimates, 6.5 million are internally displaced alone.”

Even after the war, one of the key challenges will remain enabling citizens scattered around the world to vote, which could include some in Russian-held Ukrainian territory.

“Where they are now, where they will vote — all these things need to be resolved,” Shuliak added.

To this end, she continued, Ukrainian officials have been studying different European election models to adopt practices that would allow them to conduct free and fair elections after the war ends.

“We’re interested in [the] nuances of electronic voting and [the] technical assessment of other alternative voting options, also from the perspective of IT security,” Shuliak said, adding that MPs are also considering mail-in voting, in-person voting abroad on election day, voting by proxy and online voting.

Kyiv frequently comes under pressure from various allies to hold elections, while the Kremlin uses the lack of voting in Ukraine for propaganda purposes, claiming the Kyiv leadership is illegitimate and Ukraine is not a democracy.

According to the recommendations of the Venice Commission at the Council of Europe, and of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, significant changes to electoral laws should be adopted at least a year before the date of the next elections in Ukraine.

Kyiv-based election watchdog OPORA has also urged the government to begin preparations for voting once the war is over.

“Democracy is not only about voting day. If the state does not work on the electoral infrastructure even when elections are not possible for security reasons or war, then it [sends] a signal that it is moving away from the standards of democracy,” Olga Aivazovska, chairman of the board at OPORA, told POLITICO.

 In a Dec. 5 video interview with Britain’s the Telegraph newspaper, Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said: “Zelenskyy is a democrat by nature. He is ready for elections at any moment. But the election has to be organized in a way everyone in the democratic world will recognize as fair. All citizens of Ukraine must have the opportunity to vote, including soldiers and refugees.”

In September, Ukraine’s Central Election Commission started to update information on the voter stations that remain in the country, given that Russia still occupies some 20 percent of Ukraine.

Yermak said: “After [a] just peace, we will be immediately ready for the proper democratic elections.” Shuliak, however, said it will take “at least six months” for elections to be held after the end of martial law.