“Former Commander-in-Chief Zaluzni, who was dismissed, won.”
A public opinion poll has shown that if Ukraine holds presidential elections immediately, President Volodymyr Zelensky will lose.
According to Russian state broadcaster RT on the 5th (local time), a recent survey conducted by Ukrainian public opinion polling agency SOCIS showed that President Zelenskyy would lose the presidential election against the recently dismissed former Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny.
In Ukraine, if no candidate receives a majority of votes in the first round, the first and second place candidates hold a runoff election (second round of voting).
There was no winner of the first round of voting in this virtual competition. Former Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny had 41%, President Zelenskyy had 23.7%, former President Pyotr Poroshenko had 6.4%, and former Speaker of the National Assembly Dmitry Rajumou had 5.6%.
In the finals, former Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny was found to win with 67.5% of the vote, defeating President Zelenskyy, who only got 32.5%.
In the general election, former Commander-in-Chief Zaluzny’s ‘force’ was found to have won 46.4% of the seats, and President Zelenskyy’s party had 21.1% of the seats. Former President Poroshenko’s party is 7.5%.
However, Ukraine is at war with Russia, so elections will not be held immediately. The Constitution prohibits elections during martial law. Accordingly, the general election scheduled for October last year was postponed indefinitely, and the presidential election originally scheduled for this month is expected to be postponed.
In order to hold elections, martial law must be lifted through a cease-fire or end of the war, or the constitution must be amended, both of which are currently unlikely. President Zelenskyy said in December last year that no presidential or general elections would be held as long as martial law remains in place.
Before entering politics, President Zelenskyy was a comedian who portrayed the president on a TV show. He challenged then-President Poroshenko in 2019 with a peace platform and won a landslide victory with 73% of the vote in the runoff. The newly founded ‘Servant of the People’, named after his TV program, also swept the general elections in June 2019.
Former Commander-in-Chief Zaluzny was suddenly dismissed on the 8th of last month after rumors of discord with President Zelenskyy. There was also an interpretation that he was trying to keep his political opponents in check due to his national popularity. He is known to have had a disagreement with President Zelenskiy over the war with Russia, and there have been claims that he secretly participated in secret war-ending talks with Western officials. However, he has never revealed his political ambitions.
This SOCIS survey was conducted on 3,000 Ukrainian adult men and women from February 22nd to March 1st. The margin of error is 2.1%.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.