The Ukrainian leader\u2019s presidential term expired last year but he has refused to hold a vote due to martial law<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump has urged Ukraine to hold elections, questioning the country\u2019s democratic credentials in an interview with Politico published on Tuesday.
\nHe appeared to issue a new challenge to Vladimir Zelensky, whose presidential term expired in May 2024, but has declined to organize a presidential election, citing martial law.
\nZelensky was elected in 2019 and declared in December 2023 that Ukraine would not hold presidential or parliamentary elections while martial law remains in force. It was imposed after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in February 2022 and has since been repeatedly extended by parliament.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Trump \u2018disappointed\u2019 with Zelensky<\/p>\n
Trump told Politico that Kiev should no longer use the ongoing conflict as an excuse to delay a vote.
\n\u201cThey haven\u2019t had an election in a long time,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it\u2019s not a democracy anymore.\u201d
\nAsked directly if Ukraine should go to the polls, Trump said \u201cit\u2019s time\u201d and argued it was \u201can important time to hold an election,\u201d adding that while \u201cthey\u2019re using war not to hold an election,\u201d Ukrainians \u201cshould have that choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE: \u2018Legally impossible\u2019 to sign peace treaty with Ukraine now \u2013 Putin<\/p>\n
A major corruption scandal has damaged Zelensky\u2019s standing at home as well, just as Ukraine\u2019s forces are suffering a series of setbacks at the front. Moscow, meanwhile, has repeatedly said it considers him an illegitimate leader.
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin recently noted that while Russia is also a party to the military conflict, it nevertheless held a presidential election in March 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ukrainian leader\u2019s presidential term expired last year but he has refused to hold a vote due to martial law US President Donald Trump has urged Ukraine to hold elections,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t