Thursday13 February 2025
ord-02.com

Nikolai Tomenko suggested that if elections were held tomorrow, he questioned: "Do Arestovich, Zaluzhny, and Murayev have the right to run for President?"

Nikolai Tomenko shares his thoughts on this matter on his Facebook page. Below, we present the author's words without any commentary. It is important to note that the expert's opinion may differ from the editorial stance. However, we cannot deny anyone the right to express their views.
Николай Томенко высказал мнение о возможных выборах: "Могут ли Арестович, Залужный и Мураев претендовать на пост Президента?"

In Ukraine, a discussion has intensified regarding the potential elections following the so-called ceasefire. Politicians and the public are divided in their opinions on this matter, accusing each other of facilitating Putin/Trump's cunning plans to remove Zelensky from power and establish a new "correct authority" in Ukraine.

I propose to analyze the electoral issue from a different perspective, namely:

What are the current legal, institutional, and financial possibilities for holding elections in 2025?

To put it briefly:

AT PRESENT, SUCH POSSIBILITIES DO NOT EXIST.

Firstly, the current Electoral Code does not provide for the possibility of holding SIMULTANEOUS elections for the President and the Verkhovna Rada.

Secondly, the need to update the "State Register of Voters" was mentioned only at the end of 2024 by the Central Election Commission (CEC), as it currently fails to account for the reality of millions of voters living abroad.

Thirdly, the Budget for 2025 does not allocate A SINGLE HRYVNA for conducting elections.

Is it possible to create the prerequisites for elections in 2025/26?

The answer is equally simple:

IT IS DEFINITELY POSSIBLE.

How can this be achieved?

1. Acknowledge the CEC's performance as unsatisfactory and form a new composition of an independent and professional CEC.

To illustrate the criminal inaction of the CEC, I will cite the example of the over two years of salary payments to CEC member Buhlak, who during this time lived with his family near Miami. Furthermore, CEC members receive some of the HIGHEST SALARIES in Ukraine (the average salary for CEC members is 310 thousand hryvnias per month, and the overall activities of the CEC from 2022 to 2025 will cost the Ukrainian people nearly a BILLION hryvnias). Since February 24, they have not been preparing for possible elections in any official capacity. To verify this, it is sufficient to analyze their official website during this period.

2. Prepare amendments to the ELECTORAL CODE OF UKRAINE with the involvement of experts and the public.

Among the complex issues:

- conducting simultaneous elections;

- voting for military personnel and Ukrainian citizens residing abroad;

- the problem of creating electoral districts based on an open party list system in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions;

- extending the voting period;

- legalizing or not legalizing online voting;

- creating equal financial and informational opportunities for election participants…

3. I would like to emphasize the necessity of regulating the prohibition on current deputies, who were elected from banned parties, from registering as candidates for president, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, and local councils.

Let me remind you that the current Electoral Code clearly defines the conditions for obtaining the RIGHT to be a presidential candidate regarding the requirement of residence in Ukraine "for the ten years immediately preceding the election day." I will quote Article 75 of the Electoral Code:

“A person is considered to reside in Ukraine… if their single trip abroad for personal matters does not exceed 90 days, and the total duration of their stay outside Ukraine in each annual period during the last ten years before the voting day for the respective elections did not exceed 183 days.” This means that various figures like Arestovych, Murayev, and other political émigrés will not have the right to run for president.

This requirement does not apply, for instance, to Valerii Zaluzhnyi, because “the departure of a person from Ukraine for a business trip, training, vacation, or treatment on the recommendation of the relevant medical institution does not violate the residence requirement in Ukraine.”

A similar provision is found in Article 134 of the Electoral Code regarding candidates for people's deputies.

“A person is considered to reside in Ukraine… if their single trip abroad for personal matters does not exceed 90 days, and the total duration of their stay outside Ukraine in each annual period during the last five years before the voting day for the respective elections did not exceed 183 days.” And, of course, there is a list of exceptions, just as in the case of requirements for presidential candidates.

This also means that deputies of the Verkhovna Rada and politicians currently waiting out the war abroad will NOT have the right to run for the Verkhovna Rada.

GENERAL CONCLUSION.

The discussion about the possibility of holding elections in 2025/26 is not a CRIME or a Russian-American IPSO. Nevertheless, this discussion should take place within a constructive and professional framework aimed at creating real legal, institutional, and financial conditions for conducting such elections. Because I reiterate - as of today, they are COMPLETELY ABSENT!