Is it true that Ukraine is not preparing for elections? If so, why do Kyiv residents find party newspapers in their mailboxes? Details are in the material of "Apostrophe".
The Economist recently reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy convened a meeting in late March to instruct his team to be ready for elections after a full ceasefire, if it happens, as the Americans hope, by the end of April.
“The first confirmation could come on the eve of May 5, the deadline for parliament to vote on extending martial law, which ends on May 8. The lifting of martial law is necessary for the election process to begin. Sources differ on the timing, but most say Mr. Zelensky is targeting the summer. The law requires 60 days for the election campaign, so the earliest possible date would be early July. But some sources say the campaign will take three months ,” the article says.
Soon, the head of the pro-presidential faction "Servant of the People" David Arakhamia denied that such a meeting had taken place in the Office of the President. Preparations for the elections were also rejected in the OP. " No, there is no question of that ," said the deputy head of the Office of the President, Pavlo Palisa.
However, the other day, residents of downtown Kyiv found in their mailboxes the party newspaper "Servant of the People" for January 2025, published by the Donetsk regional organization of the party.
Apostrophe" contacted the center for comment. They replied that " since the summer of 2022, the offices of the Donetsk regional organization of the Servant of the People party, which were located in Kramatorsk, Mariupol and Pokrovsk, together with the team, were forced to change locations due to the deterioration of the security situation ." So, since the fall of 2022, temporary offices of the regional organization have been operating in Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv. " These cities have a fairly large number of displaced persons from the Donetsk region, for whom a monthly circulation of the party newspaper is published. That is why the party newspaper is distributed in these cities, the printing of which has resumed since February 2023 ," the regional organization of the party explained.
They also added that “ the content of the newspaper is both news about the activities of the deputies of the “Servant of the People” team of the Donetsk region, who continue to work for the people of Donetsk, and general useful information that may be useful to IDPs .”
“ The team of the Donetsk regional organization of the Servant of the People party hopes that the distribution of newspapers will help Donetsk residents learn important news from the life of the region, have contacts with humanitarian hubs that provide support to IDPs, as well as directly with the temporary offices of the regional organization, where you can always get consulting assistance ,” they noted in response to the request.
“ Party newspapers are political advertising ,” former deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission Andriy Magera tells Apostrophe. “ It can be distributed by parties 365 days a year. The question here is more of morality - do they have what it takes to publish the press, or can they spend it on something more useful? ”
Political scientist Andriy Zolotaryov drew attention to the fact that the party newspaper "Servant of the People" could be found in mailboxes three months ago. Since a city like Kyiv needs a circulation of several hundred thousand copies, and the circulation of this newspaper is only 50 thousand, the newspaper does not cover the entire capital. However, this does not mean that the party is not thinking about the elections. “ If [the newspaper appears in the mailboxes of Kyiv residents], then they really have begun to slowly prepare for the election campaign, just in case. And I have a feeling that the elections may catch many by surprise. Why? Because the authorities actually have a concentrated organizational, administrative, media and technological resource in their hands. And they will really say to the last that no one is preparing for the elections. But information is coming in that the management is already sending instructions to the places. And this is actually warming up the election machine. And what we see in the mailboxes is one of the signs that, regardless of what anyone says, they are preparing for the elections, ” the publication’s interlocutor is sure.
However, this applies not only to the pro-government forces. “ Both the government and the potential opposition have begun to prepare for them. They are already holding seminars, selecting people who will work in the regions. For example, Mr. Shapovalov re-registered some dormant party into the “Poltavshchyna” party, for example. “Udar” is starting to prepare a regional network for working with social networks ,” Zolotaryov said.
Meanwhile, preparations for the vote should be made not only in party headquarters. As "Apostrophe" wrote , in order to hold the first post-war elections, Ukraine needs to prepare a special law that would take into account all the security risks that may arise even under conditions of a ceasefire. Among the challenges are the issues of organizing voting for military personnel, as well as Ukrainian refugees abroad. Judging by the interviews with CEC officials, such an initiative on post-war elections is already being prepared.
