Approaching End of Term, Zelenskyy Cancels Next Election: 'Not the Right Time'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is up for re-election in the spring, announced on Monday that he has suspended his country’s 2024 election.
Zelnskyy said in a speech to his country’s citizens that due to its ongoing war against Russia, it is “not the right time for elections.”
While he had previously not ruled out the possibility of an election in March, The Hill reported, Monday he called for Ukrainian citizens to support him.
To wrap up his video address to his country, he said: “And finally, the waves of any politically divisive things must stop. We must realize that now is the time of defense, the time of the battle that determines the fate of the state and people, not the time of manipulations, which only Russia expects from Ukraine.
“I believe that now is not the right time for elections.”
Zelenskyy, who was elected to his first five-year term in 2019, concluded that election season for now is a time for “unity.”
“And if we need to put an end to a political dispute and continue to work in unity, there are structures in the state that are capable of putting an end to it and giving society all the necessary answers,” he said. “So that there is no room left for conflicts and someone else’s game against Ukraine.”
He did not say when another election would be held.
Ukraine is currently under a state of martial law and has been since the February 2022 invasion of its territory by Russia.
The official cancellation of Ukraine’s 2024 presidential election comes days after Zelenskyy told NBC’s Kristen Welker during an interview that he wields “a lot of power” amid his country’s ongoing war.
On “Meet the Press,” Ukraine’s president said his country’s nearly two-year war has not affected his resolve.
He also used coarse language when speaking of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We are not ready to give our freedom to this f***ing terrorist, Putin,” he said.
Ukraine isn’t ready to give up its independence to “terrorist Putin,” President Zelenskyy tells @kwelkernbc on @meetthepress.https://t.co/J7UmSHEnLv pic.twitter.com/GLg2Uy9pie
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 5, 2023
Welker asked him, “Before you go if you want to share, what keeps you going? Do you ever feel defeated?”
Zelenskyy replied, “I have a lot of power, but even feeling strong, and I have a lot of energy, it doesn’t mean that we want to fight all our lives.”
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