Ukraine's Election Chief Cautions Against Rushed Voting Post-War

Challenges in Organizing Ukraine's Elections

By Yuliia Dysa

Voter Registration and Infrastructure

KYIV, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Ukraine will face enormous challenges to organise its first elections since Russia's 2022 invasion, with its infrastructure shattered and millions of people displaced by war, the country's election chief said.

Voting Rights for Refugees and Servicemen

Bringing Ukraine's voter registry up to date and making the proper preparations for a vote will take significant time, Oleh Didenko, the head of Ukraine's Central Election Commission, told Reuters in a rare interview with international media.

Ceasefire and Security Concerns

Amid diplomatic efforts to end the war, U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded Ukraine hold elections, even though they are banned under martial law - in force since the invasion - and a majority of Ukrainians oppose a wartime ballot.

Organising elections as soon as possible is part of a 20-point peace framework that Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators have been working to finalise in recent months.

Under pressure from Trump, Zelenskiy said last month he was ready to hold elections if the United States and other allies could ensure the security of the vote. At his request, lawmakers and experts started a working group to draft proposals for the significant legal changes needed to hold an election.

CEASEFIRE BEFORE ELECTIONS

A ceasefire and safe conditions for voters are prerequisites for any vote, Didenko said. Beyond that, Ukraine faces numerous challenges: millions of its citizens are abroad or at the front line, its infrastructure has been destroyed and its voter register does not reflect migration changes.

"Issues of electoral law are very complicated in peacetime in Ukraine: they were not resolved quickly or easily. So now these issues are even more complicated because there are significantly more challenges," Didenko said.

Ukraine last held presidential and parliamentary elections in 2019, when Zelenskiy won by a landslide to become president.

His five-year mandate expired last year and Russia has questioned his legitimacy, but Kyiv's allies have rejected Moscow's assertions and Zelenskiy's ratings are high.

In the 2019 presidential election, almost 19 million people cast their ballot from 30 million registered voters. At least 20% of those lived in parts of Ukraine now occupied by Russia, pre-war data shows.

President Vladimir Putin has said Ukrainians living in Russia must be able to participate - an idea rejected by Zelenskiy.

Voting in occupied territories is out of the question but Ukraine will ensure voting rights for people who manage to reach Kyiv-controlled territory, Didenko said.

The commission allowed voters to update their data online this month - a function suspended since 2022 for security reasons - as part of a broader effort to bring its registry up to date.

REFUGEE AND FRONTLINE VOTE

There are about 5.8 million Ukrainian refugees overseas, the majority in Europe, according to United Nations refugee agency data from January.

As of now, there is no final assessment of voter numbers abroad as many have not updated their registration.

"We need to locate the voters and create voting infrastructure," Didenko said.

Ukraine had 102 polling stations in its embassies and consulates before the war. That is insufficient to ensure refugees can vote, Didenko said.

The commission believes opening polling stations outside diplomatic premises is the most realistic solution, Didenko said, as online and postal voting are at risk of external interference and attempts to discredit the process.

Ensuring voting rights for servicemen is another challenge although Didenko said Ukraine could build on its experience in organising military voting.

In the 2019 elections, thousands of troops had already been deployed to eastern Ukraine to battle Russia-backed separatists who had seized territory five years earlier. The scale of the problem now is much greater, with about 800,000 Ukrainians serving in the army.

According to Ukraine's election commission, almost 2,000 of over 30,000 polling stations have been destroyed or damaged, mostly in the east.

While Zelenskiy has said security is a core issue for any elections, Russia has systemically rejected the idea of a ceasefire. Putin said in December that Moscow was ready "to think about" ensuring security in Ukraine during a vote.

Only 9% of Ukrainians back the idea of an election before a ceasefire, a poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showed in December. About 57% see elections as possible only after a final peace deal and the end of the war.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Editing by Daniel Flynn and Timothy Heritage)