Talking of democracy, there is a question about Ukraine that I have been curious about for some time: why have elections not taken place during the war?
Before going any further, I want to make it clear that I fully understand the circumstances Ukraine is facing. Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and Ukraine has remained under martial law ever since. Under Ukrainian law, elections cannot be held while martial law is in force.
There are also obvious and very serious practical reasons why holding an election during a war would be extraordinarily difficult. Parts of Ukraine remain occupied, millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, some citizens are living abroad, infrastructure has been destroyed, and a huge number of Ukrainian citizens are serving in the military. Organising a free, fair and secure election under those circumstances would be an enormous logistical and security challenge.
I completely understand those arguments.
But I still find myself asking a rather fundamental question: should a war necessarily mean that democracy has to stop?
What about Russia?
One reason I find the question particularly interesting is that Russia has continued to hold elections since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.
Russia held a presidential election in 2024 and has continued to hold regional and local elections. Parliamentary elections are also scheduled for September 2026.
Of course, this comes with an enormous qualification.
I am not suggesting that Russia’s elections are a model of democracy. Quite the opposite. Russia’s political system has become increasingly authoritarian, with serious restrictions on opposition parties, independent media and political dissent. The fact that Russia holds elections does not, by itself, mean that those elections are genuinely free or competitive.
Nevertheless, I think the comparison raises an interesting question. If it is technically possible for a country at war to organise elections, could there be circumstances in which a democracy might find ways to maintain electoral participation even during a conflict?
And perhaps the answer in Ukraine is simply that, given the particular circumstances, it is not currently possible. But that leads to another question: how do we make sure that “not currently possible” does not eventually become an indefinite suspension of democratic choice?
What does Ukraine say?
Ukraine’s position is not that elections should never take place. In February 2025, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, passed a resolution stating that elections should be held after a “comprehensive, just, and sustainable peace” has been secured. The resolution received 268 votes in favour, with 12 abstentions.
Ukraine has also been actively working on what elections might look like once conditions permit them. In 2026, a parliamentary working group has been examining issues including the electoral rights of military personnel, Ukrainians living abroad, internally displaced people and citizens in frontline or temporarily occupied territories, as well as the security requirements for holding elections.
Interestingly, the working group has concluded that elections cannot currently be held while martial law remains in force. So the debate is increasingly about how to make future elections work in circumstances that are very different from those that existed before the invasion.
Who decides when democracy can resume?
This is perhaps the part of the issue that interests me most.
Who ultimately decides when the conditions are right for martial law to end and elections to resume?
The people currently exercising political power are, inevitably, the same people who remain in office while elections are suspended. That does not mean they have an improper motive, nor does it mean that elections could safely be held today. There are very real security, constitutional and logistical considerations involved.
But from a democratic perspective, it seems entirely legitimate to ask what safeguards exist to prevent a temporary suspension of elections from becoming something open-ended.
Democracy is not simply about holding an election every few years. It is also about having institutions and rules that ensure those in power cannot indefinitely avoid being held accountable by the electorate.
That is why I think this deserves discussion without automatically turning it into a question of whether someone is “pro-Ukraine” or “pro-Russia”. It is a much broader democratic question.
Could war actually be an opportunity to rethink elections?
Rather than viewing the current situation solely as a reason why elections cannot be held, perhaps there is another way of looking at it.
Could this be an opportunity to rethink how democratic participation works during times of war?
Ukraine faces a problem that many democracies have traditionally struggled to solve: how do you conduct a genuinely democratic election when a significant proportion of your population has been displaced, when parts of the country are inaccessible, when citizens are serving in the armed forces, and when millions of people may be living outside the country?
Perhaps the answer lies in developing a robust electoral system specifically designed for extraordinary circumstances.
Such a system could potentially allow displaced citizens, refugees and military personnel to participate safely and securely, wherever they are. It could involve a combination of diplomatic voting facilities, expanded postal voting, carefully designed advance voting, secure voter registration and other technologies or procedures – with appropriate safeguards against fraud, coercion and foreign interference.
Importantly, this should not simply mean introducing online voting and assuming technology solves everything. Any system would need to be independently tested, transparent, auditable and trusted by voters and political parties. Security and accessibility would have to go hand in hand.
If such a system could be developed and properly tested, Ukraine could potentially become a pioneer in demonstrating how democratic participation can be maintained during extraordinary circumstances.
An opportunity for Ukraine, the UK and the EU?
This makes me wonder whether this could be a worthwhile project for Ukraine to undertake with its European partners.
Could the European Union and the UK work with Ukraine on developing and testing new approaches to democratic participation during war and national emergencies?
Rather than waiting until a peace agreement is reached, which may never come, and then trying to design an electoral system under enormous time pressure, perhaps some of that work could be done now.
It could involve election experts, constitutional lawyers, cybersecurity specialists, civil society organisations and representatives of displaced Ukrainians, military personnel and Ukrainians living abroad.
The objective would not necessarily be to hold an election tomorrow. It would be to develop a system capable of holding a legitimate, secure and genuinely inclusive election when the political and security conditions make one possible.
And perhaps the lessons learned could extend well beyond Ukraine.
Wars, pandemics, natural disasters and other national emergencies can all disrupt the normal functioning of democratic institutions. If democracies are serious about resilience, perhaps electoral resilience should be part of that conversation too.
Keeping democracy alive
I am genuinely curious about this rather than trying to make a particular political argument.
I understand why Ukraine believes elections cannot currently be held under martial law. I also understand the extraordinary difficulties involved in trying to organise an election during an active war.
But I think it is equally legitimate to ask whether we should simply accept that democracy must effectively pause until a conflict is over.
Perhaps the better question is not simply “Why isn’t Ukraine holding elections?”
Perhaps it is:
“How can democracies design systems that allow citizens to continue participating in democracy, even when circumstances make traditional elections impossible?”
The war in Ukraine presents an extraordinarily difficult democratic challenge. But it may also present an opportunity – for Ukraine, the UK, the EU and democracies more broadly – to rethink what democratic resilience should look like in the 21st century.
Could developing such a system be a project that the EU and UK could work on with Ukraine?
I would be genuinely interested to hear what you think.
First dropped: | Last modified: September 04, 2026