{"id":1341866,"date":"2026-01-08T12:19:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/irina-gerashchenko-all-constitutional-experts-are-unequivocally-against-elections-or-referendums-during-martial-law\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T12:19:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:19:58","slug":"irina-gerashchenko-all-constitutional-experts-are-unequivocally-against-elections-or-referendums-during-martial-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/irina-gerashchenko-all-constitutional-experts-are-unequivocally-against-elections-or-referendums-during-martial-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Irina Gerashchenko: All constitutional experts are unequivocally against elections or referendums during martial law."},"content":{"rendered":"

Iryna Gerashchenko, co-chair of the European Solidarity faction, who is participating in a meeting of the Working Group on the preparation of comprehensive legislative proposals on the specifics of the procedure for organizing and conducting elections during a special period and\/or post-war elections in Ukraine, emphasized that elections are impossible during martial law.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“All the constitutional experts invited to the panel expressed a clear and unambiguous position: elections are impossible during martial law! Just like a referendum. And they cannot be pushed through by any means necessary. This concerns the impossibility of guaranteeing democratic standards, equal access and participation, freedom of speech, and security. This applies not only to election day, but also to a process that lasts more than a day or even a month,” Gerashchenko notes.<\/p>\n

“Regarding the referendum, lawyers recalled that the law prohibits holding referendums on issues falling within the purview of other government bodies. Specifically, issues of war and peace agreements fall within the purview of the Verkhovna Rada and the president. Furthermore, the referendum law prohibits holding elections and referendums simultaneously,” the deputy recalled.<\/p>\n

Gerashchenko also noted that, after 2004, Ukrainians have been deeply traumatized by the possibility of election fraud. “We will need to work together to ensure that the first post-war elections are democratic and free, with equal access for all political players, and with media freedom issues taken into account. What’s happening today, particularly with the marathon, is already undermining equal access for all players to shape public opinion; public opinion is being distorted well before the elections,” Iryna Gerashchenko stated.<\/p>\n

She also noted that the issue of territorial integrity cannot be a matter for a referendum: \u201cIf we are talking about territory, then this could involve changes to borders and regions, but within the boundaries of a united sovereign Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerashchenko also noted that the Central Election Commission is not a party to legislative initiatives. “Therefore, any legislation or the president must introduce and assume this responsibility, as far as electoral legislation is concerned, or is this the sole responsibility of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, not even a working group. Our proposal is to create a special temporary commission of the Verkhovna Rada, which should work on legislative amendments and assume this responsibility, taking into account all the important positions and developments currently being expressed by our colleagues and partners,” the MP said.<\/p>\n

Gerashchenko also stated that online voting cannot ensure electoral standards: “The law very clearly defines in-person voting, and any online voting, voting on the Action platform, or voting by other means could lead to a lack of confidence, and the elections being declared falsified or invalid.”<\/p>\n

As previously reported, on December 26, the Verkhovna Rada held its first meeting of the working group preparing legislative proposals for holding elections during the special period<\/a> . One of the key tasks will be developing mechanisms to counter potential Russian interference in the electoral process.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As a reminder, First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Kornienko announced the first meeting of the working group, which is preparing legislative proposals for organizing elections during martial law and in the post-war period.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Also follow “Pryamy”<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter,<\/a> Telegram<\/a> and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iryna Gerashchenko, co-chair of the European Solidarity faction, who is participating in a meeting of the Working Group on the preparation of comprehensive legislative proposals on the specifics of the procedure for organizing and conducting elections during a special period and\/or post-war elections in Ukraine, emphasized that elections are impossible during martial law. “All the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1241819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76874,76875,76894],"class_list":["post-1341866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-war","category-other-news","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1341866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1241819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1341866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1341866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}