To be fair, they’re (understandably) under martial law which has been extended in 90 day increments since 2022 with parliamentary approval. Elections aren’t to be held under martial law per Ukranian law, and there have been
referendavotes held among the Rada to determine if elections should be held, which failed.Edit: referendum would entail direct democracy. That isn’t what happened - it was just a vote by the legislature.
And the bit where they criminalised over ten opposition parties?
there have been referenda to determine if elections should be held
??? I can’t find evidence of any such referenda. This seems to just be false. Do you just mean ‘survey’?
I am (and most people are) not saying Ukraine MUST hold elections tomorrow. But the meme’s point stands - that none of these people have a meaningful democratic mandate.
Referendum was incorrect. It was just a vote by the legislature, so elected representatives. I had seen Referendum used in some source, but I forget where.
On 26 February 2025, after a previous failed vote on a similar resolution,[27] the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution reaffirming that elections should not be held during martial law, and also pledged to hold a presidential election upon the conclusion of the Russo-Ukrainian War.[28] On 6 March 2025 opposition politicians Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, after having confirmed that they had held discussions with United States representatives, confirmed that they still opposed elections held during wartime.[29]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Ukrainian_presidential_election
On 6 March 2025 opposition politicians Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, after having confirmed that they had held discussions with United States representatives, confirmed that they still opposed elections held during wartime.
So democratic, much liberty.
So elected representatives decided that further elections are not necessary, and in the country where opposition is banned, hmm, indeed a democracy to behold.
I mean, banning most of the opposition parties certainly helps getting the cooperation of the remaining ones.
Genuine questions:
Was he seemingly fairly elected originally, and did he hold elections previously? (I don’t know how Ukrainian elections work or how long he was in office before 2022)
How “in control” is he of the parliament / the referenda determining elections? Is it a Trump situation where all his buddies are in position to say, “sure! give him all the power!”, or is there more separation?
I’m admittedly relatively uninformed in the conflict, but I will say it was interesting seeing the general opinion of Lemmy go from “Slava Ukraini, fuck Russian Nazis, here’s some footage of Russian teenagers getting blown up with drones, Trump bad for not wanting to give aid” to “Zelensky is a fascist war criminal and also a Nazi and dumb American liberals are bad for siding with them” seemingly overnight. The switch happened a while ago but it was apparently unanimous.
the general opinion of Lemmy go from “Slava Ukraini, fuck Russian Nazis, here’s some footage of Russian teenagers getting blown up with drones, Trump bad for not wanting to give aid” to “Zelensky is a fascist war criminal and also a Nazi and dumb American liberals are bad for siding with them” seemingly overnight. The switch happened a while ago but it was apparently unanimous.
Lemmy has always had people who took the second position, and still has people who take the first position. There has been a general shift, but it was neither sudden nor unanimous.
When I first joined Lemmy, those that held the second opinion were down voted en masse and we’re always lambasted as Russian trolls and Nazi sympathizers. I never saw a pro Russia / anti Ukraine post or comment with positive votes. Nowadays I don’t think I see many explicitly “pro Russia” posts but there’s a good number of anti Ukraine posts that are relatively high on the front page, and most pro Ukraine comments have at least one upvoted reply calling them a liberal or pro-fascist.
I didn’t necessarily mean unanimous as in, “everyone now has this opinion”, so much as “the hive mind has decided that we now upvote this opinion and down vote that one”. Like, there’s Trump supporters on Lemmy, whenever they comment anything pro-Trump it’s kind of a given (not necessarily saying a good one) that it’s going to get downvoted, and most things critical of him will get upvoted even if it’s not the most accurate or ingenuous criticism. To me, it very much seemed like one week it was “upvote Ukraine, downvote Russia!”, and the next it was “downvote Ukraine, Russia…🤷🏽♂️!”. Somewhere around the Iran shitshow.
Might just be a matter of what coms you’re reading
“Ukrainian’s deserve a vote” also “democracy is a sham” - pick one, bro
Western implementation of democracy is indeed a sham while the working class majority do deserve a genuine vote is not the contradiction you seem to think it is bro.
And yet you hold up no example. Empty words
Last I checked, China, Vietnam, Cuba, and DPRK exist. I’m sorry that I’ve underestimated the sheer extent of your ignorance on the subject you’re opining on.
Oh thank you for educating me on the existence of countries. I shouldn’t have doubted your commitment to honest engagement.
Thank you for admitting you were just trolling earlier and you’re perfectly aware of what the alternatives are.
And the reason they haven’t had an elections is because they don’t want this guy to be in charge?

I wonder if I’ll be down voted?
This totally makes sense if we consider the fact that many westerners don’t consider nonwesterners to be people.
Colonizers can’t choose the presidents of sovereign nations anymore, the people there do the choosing now, and that makes the colonizers furious.
I’m confused by the comment? Putin is trying to colonize Ukraine. Putin mad because they had a free election to elect the person who is holding his own against an ageing wana be world power in a war going on for years that was supposed to be over in days. Also Putin rig’s his own elections so him demanding is bit well, fix your own shit before you fix someone else. Oh wait Putin does fix his own elections.
You’re overthinking it, my comment was purely about the picture you posted
And the picture was about the issue at hand
Nope, it wasn’t.
You know the meme with the donkey with swirly eyes screaming “RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA”?
That’s what the picture reminded me of.
Nobody who understands how elections work would ever post this.
It’s embarassing, and quite obviously centered around Zelenskyy, with also unfair title, as if it’s his fault.
It’s not, fuck you and anyone who defends this.
And yes, the whole ML is such a sad excuse of a russian propaganda.
If there was ever a psyop to bury any chance of a communist revolution, this is it.
You’re saying that of they held an election, people would either vote for Putin or someone that is pro Russia? I thought Ukraine was united against him…






