Most Ukrainians want Zelensky in office until martial law is canceled

A majority of Ukrainians want President Volodymyr Zelensky to remain in office and think that the country’s elections should be postponed until Ukraine is no longer under martial law, according to a new poll. 

Conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the polling results provided a lot of valuable information on some of the most pressing problems that Ukrainians are facing outside of the invasion. 

The Kyiv Independent reported Zelensky’s five-year term as president was set to end in May 2024 but there has been a lot of debate around what should happen and if Ukraine should hold an election during the war. 

In November 2023, Zelensky announced that there would not be elections in 2024 in a video address where he stated that “now is not the time for elections,” according to the Wall Street Journal’s translation. 

Ukrainian officials looked into the possibility of holding an election during wartime but it was found the financial and logistical challenges would be too great, and Zelensky said Kyiv needed to focus on the war. 

“Now everyone should be thinking of defending our country,” Zelensky explained in his November address, also noting that political differences needed to be put aside so that Russia could gain an advantage. 

The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that Zelensky would have more than likely won any election thanks to his wartime leadership, and recent polling figures show that this theory still holds true in 2024. 

Polling on when elections in Ukraine should be held has been very consistent according to the Kyiv Independent. When asked, a majority of Ukrainians believe elections should be held only once the war is over. 

The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology's latest polling data on the question of when the country should hold elections was published on February 20th and showed 69% of people wanted Zelensky to stay in office until martial law is canceled.  

Only 15% of people polled thought that elections should move forward, which included 4% of people who thought that martial law should be suspended and 11% of people who said Ukraine should amend marital law to allow elections. 

Ukrainian law doesn’t allow elections while the country is under martial law according to the Kyiv Independent, and it seems the majority of Ukrainians agree with the choices that their president has made on the issue. 

However, if elections were held in Ukraine, a majority of people would vote for Zelensky according to the polling results. 53% of respondents said they wanted Zelensky to run for another term, a figure which was down 6% from December 2023. 

“On the other hand, from 34% in December 2023 to 43% in February 2024, the share of those who believe that V. Zelensky should limit himself to one current term increased,” pollsters explained, which means Zelensky's popularity is falling. 

Similar polling from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology back in December 2023 found that 83% of people polled thought it was not the right time to hold elections in the country and wanted to postpone them. 

Commenting on the issue of elections, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) noted that the narrative was only working to help Russia: “This will destabilize the situation and unity within the country and undermine Ukraine's support from Western allies.”

"You can have different attitudes towards Zelensky - support certain decisions, criticize others, but avoiding polarization and instability and preserving the control of government institutions is in the interests of the entire society,” wrote KIIS Director Anton Hrushetskyi.