With Ukraine in our Hearts. Why elections will not solve the problems of a warring state and what solution does the president of Ukraine have?

“No one believes in our victory as much as I do. Nobody…” said the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with Time magazine, essentially publicly revealing his human and political loneliness on this issue. Because just believing is not enough. But the president did not accept help to take action and solve the problem. Preferring to remain a king surrounded by rodents, who are always capable of petty insolence, but never capable of bold and decisive action. And now they have also betrayed him, exposing our president to the whole world as a person to whom “not a single word of truth can be said about the war.” Zelenskyy is alone on the captain's bridge of a warship that has lost its course in the midst of a battle.

It is noted that 600 days after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the attention of our allies is focused on what is happening not only at the front, but also in the rear of our country. The president's policies have become transparent. After his dramatic visit to the United States of America in September, which was written about by a journalist from a leading American publication, the special representative of the United States of America for the restoration of Ukraine, Penny Pritzker, came to look not at Zelenskyy in khaki clothes, but at the processes taking place in the state body. The successful functioning of which the head of state, having concentrated all power in his hands, must ensure. Thus, such areas of the state as defense, economy and social sphere must work well and efficiently.

Appeals to partners for vital military and financial assistance must be supported by the state's internal ability to effectively manage it. The outcome of the war directly depends on the coherence of the internal and external components. Moreover, the importance of these components grew in conditions when, after the Hamas attack on Israel, another bloody war with an open ending occurred in the world, drawing the attention and resources of partners away from Ukraine.

Yes, President of the United States of America George Biden, in his address to the American people, gave us a “green” signal, placing the value of Ukraine’s victory on the same level as Israel’s victory. Biden also asked the United States Congress for a single annual aid package of $75 billion. However, $61.4 billion, theoretically reserved for Ukraine, after the election of the new Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, Johnson, became a problem. And not only in the United States of America, but also in Europe. By the end of the year, the Europeans promised us a million shells, but supplied 300 thousand. While North Korea alone supplied Russia with 350 thousand shells. Further the situation will be even more complicated. At the same time, the Ukrainian government continues to blind its partners with exclusively “red” lights, strengthening the positions of those who do not support Ukraine in the war with Russia.

Corruption and incompetence of people who make government decisions on behalf of the president undermine the ability of our government machine to resist aggression. The undeveloped counteroffensive – and only its success could become the basis for starting negotiations with Russia – is a logical result of the collapse of the public administration system, including in the field of security and defense. Against this background, a quote from one of the president’s top advisers in in the same Time magazine article, “Officials steal like there is no tomorrow,” is a public recognition of the crisis of power in Ukraine. In addition, this quote serves as confirmation that the president was not betrayed by the West.

At the same time, the role of political forces in the country – except for the ruling party – has been reduced to zero. The information space, by the hands of advisers and assistants who perfectly understand the depth of the abyss into which we are falling, has been cleared by a program that often talks about our military successes under the name “United News.” The system is lying to itself, the people and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine.

The president, to whom, it turns out, those around him are afraid to tell the truth. Does this situation remind you of any of our neighbors? Society and the handful of remaining independent media do not receive feedback from the authorities: rare forced steps, such as, for example, the resignation of Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov, which occurred six months (!) after a large-scale corruption scandal, are taken only under pressure from international partners.

Even to those who have buried their heads in the sand, it is clear: the current configuration of the government will not solve the problems that have accumulated in the state, because the government itself is the problem. The power figures who now occupy positions in the government have exhausted themselves. The current government cannot do more than it has already done. It cannot stop corruption in its current composition. In this composition, it cannot make decisions that should have been made in the military-industrial complex, the army, energy, taxation, and in the management of administrative and logistics processes a year ago. The problem of this government is not only corruption, but the number of decisions and their support that it is no longer able to make. Loyal ministers do not give the country the result that we vitally need. And it is possible to lean only on something that is solid, and not on something warm and soft.

But! The situation is complicated by the fact that changing power during a war is also a problem. And the point is not only in the Constitution of Ukraine, which directly specifies that the next parliamentary elections should be held after the end of martial law, and not only in the law on martial law, which prohibits presidential elections during war, but also in the existing internal consensus in relation to the elections.

The president intuitively does not want elections. The rating of the ruling Servant of the People party is at zero; Zelenskyy himself is next in line, continuing to hold the external frame, but unable to cope with internal challenges. As a result, the victory that the president intends to pursue to the end may not be exactly what he promised the people. And this will bury him as a politician. Therefore, Bankova Street blocks as much as possible blocks any references that sometimes arise in the public space about elections in the country. As a result, not only the parliament, which should have long ago decided on the format of post-war elections at the legal level, was paralyzed, but also the necessary planned technical preparation for the elections of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine (CEC). This is the great risk of post-war parliamentary and presidential elections, whenever they are officially announced.

Society doesn't want elections. It is worth noting that 66.9% of Ukrainians surveyed by the Razumkov Center at the request of ZN.UA believe that it is necessary to continue the powers of the current president until the end of martial law. While 69% of respondents are confident that neither parliamentary nor presidential elections can be held until the end of the war. In addition, 58.7% of Ukrainians explained their position by saying that during martial law it is impossible to ensure real political competition. Also, 51.3% of respondents are confident that a change of power during the war will not help defeat Russia, but will only contribute to the split of society – 40% of respondents have no doubt about this.

The politician does not want elections. This is evidenced by the responses to ZN.UA’s information request from leaders of political parties and parliamentary groups that may aspire to power in the future. The head of the Batkivshchyna party, Yulia Tymoshenko, and Taras Batenko, who is the head of the parliamentary group “For the Future!” expressed their official categorical position regarding the elections. In addition, the leader of the parliamentary association “Smart Politics” Dmytro Razumkov, the founder of the charitable foundation of the same name, volunteer Serhiy Prytula, and the head of the parliamentary deputy group “Platform for Life and Peace” Yuriy Boyko expressed also their position.

It is also worth noting that the European Solidarity party has not expressed its position, which does not exclude Petro Poroshenko’s repeatedly voiced public position against the elections. Just as this does not exclude the same position of the head of the faction of the “Holos” party, of which Alexandra Ustynova is. The position of the leader of the Servant of the People faction, Davyd Arakhamia, is easy to predict.

The influence of international partners in the election issue is also greatly exaggerated. According to our sources, our Western partners, knowing extremely well the situation inside the country, are categorically against the elections. “There are no prerequisites for the election campaign in Ukraine, including the impossibility of ensuring security, as well as equal voting rights for military personnel, displaced persons and opposition politicians,” the White House and the State Department are convinced of this.

Of course, Russia and Trump’s Republican allies will try to focus their attention on the topic of elections in Ukraine and the legitimacy of power, especially if the war continues. The main bet in the spring will be made on the fact that our president’s presidential term has expired, which means he is already an illegitimate Ukrainian president, while the Russian dictator will easily win the elections. Another setup from enemy propaganda could completely unbalance our state or, on the contrary, become a reason to search for a preventive asymmetric solution.

What might this decision be like for the president?

If we do not re-elect parliament and do not change the president, then the only thing we can change is the executive branch. Because the only point of effort for effective quality personnel rotation is the government. It needs to be reformatted primarily from managerial, intellectual and professional points of view. In order to overload and survive, our country needs another think tank, other heads of government agencies, state-owned enterprises, the military-industrial complex, etc.

But we are not talking about another state structure consisting of “specially selected people” headed by a useless government body, we are talking about a coalition Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, where parliamentary (and, possibly, extra-parliamentary, but aspiring to power) political forces will be represented.

Such a step will require the concentration of all the intellectual resources that the country has. The best professionals should get into the government of Salvation, Victory, People's Trust... - call it what you want. This government should be formed by coalition political forces, primarily from professionals who are not necessarily members of the parties. The purpose of such a government is to administer the state competently, honestly and coherently during times of war.

At the same time, the president, continuing his foreign policy activities, gives the main initiative in governing the state to the coalition government, completely eliminating the influence of his entourage on it. In addition, in this case, the Ukrainian parliament will begin to work really well. This state body will provide the legislative basis for the work of the coalition government. And the president, in turn, will sign government bills adopted by parliament. Thus, we will return to the framework of the current Constitution and the parliamentary-presidential model of government. Officially stating the death of the long-defunct mono-majority.

This is a difficult decision for the President of Ukraine, which, however, at a critical moment for the country will testify to his desire to become a statesman capable of sacrificing political ambitions to save our country.

On what basis should a coalition government be created?

We are now talking about a new social contract between the government, the army and society, the initiator and guarantor of which during the war can be the president. Then the basis of the coalition agreement that political parties and groups will sign in parliament – they will subsequently create a coalition government that will open the doors to the best technocratic professionals – can be based on the following crucial strategic objectives:

firstly, the reorientation of the state to a military regime; maximum strengthening of the country's resilience and defense capability, based on the needs of the army, including the production of its own (including high-tech) weapons and ammunition;

secondly, a tough fight against corruption in the public administration system, up to the revision of the central and local budgets, as well as the rejection of “nepotism” and “special appointments of people” by returning to fair competitions in the selection for civil service;

thirdly, completion of the structuring of the anti-corruption unit, including the organization and conduct of a timely and transparent competition for the head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP); adoption of bills guaranteeing the full legal and procedural independence of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), as well as strengthening the institutional power of  the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) (using its expertise, increasing the staff of detectives, etc.);

fourthly, the adoption of a package of all laws necessary for accession to the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including those related to the completion of judicial reform;

fifthly, completion of the reform of the state power system, including the introduction of the institution of state supervision over local governments, which is critically important for strengthening the state vertical and security immediately after the end of the war;

sixth, the development of a new comprehensive development plan for the country, taking into account the recommendations of the European Union (EU), the needs of regions and communities, in order to effectively use the financial assistance that is already coming and which will come from donors in the process of post-war reconstruction;

seventh, guaranteed provision of a social minimum for all categories of the population that need it. First of all, we mean the victims of the war and their families;

eighth, a package of social, economic, and demographic measures aimed at creating conditions for the return to Ukraine of citizens who left the country after the full-scale invasion of Russia;

ninth, creating the most favorable conditions for the development and relocation of business (including farming in agriculture), supporting enterprises, paying taxes, etc.

tenth, the preparation and adoption of a special framework law for holding post-war parliamentary and presidential elections so that the Central Election Commission of Ukraine (CEC) could begin preparations for them.

Why political forces will be forced to respond to the president’s initiative

Coalition government is about sharing responsibilities. In this case, the president of Ukraine Zelenskyy should share responsibilities with other political forces and their leaders, whom he gave little support throughout his tenure. But when the president talks about unity today, it is not the unity of voters with him. This is the unity of everyone. Intellectuals, visionaries, managers, regardless of their affiliation with political parties.

And just as Zelenskyy needs to admit that his team has failed to govern the country, the leaders of parliamentary parties need to remember that part of the president’s heavy burden, according to the Constitution, belongs to them. Of course, it is always easier to wait on the river bank until the corpse of your political enemy floats past you. However, such a development of the situation cannot be allowed today, because our common blood enemy is waiting on the other side of the Dnieper River.

That is why people will perceive such a decision by the president and leaders of political parties as a serious step towards consolidation. Politicians will become visible to society or, if they refuse, they will become outcasts. Everyone will have to negotiate and fulfill the terms of the agreement, ensuring the coordinated work of the government, parliament and president. All this will have to be done without drawing all the attention to yourself, without thinking about the upcoming elections and also without the desire to set up a future competitor. But with one single goal - to become a support for our army.

Don't you like our political forces? But you chose them during the elections! And they cannot, with their potential and experience, spend wartime simply doing nothing in parliament. They must participate in solving strategic government problems and take responsibility. At the same time, we are absolutely not sure that all the best specialists are limited by the existing parties. A coalition government must be formed with the participation of political forces, and not exclusively from them.

Why should it be done now?

We've reached our limit. The difficult situation at the front, the unbalanced economy, the loss of a significant part of the trust of our partners, the expansion of crisis centers in the world forces us, first of all, to turn to our own resources. Therefore, it is now very important for our country to concentrate our knowledge and management, which will help restore the control of the state machine and key industries. Starting with the military-industrial complex and the army, ending with the economy and energy.

Such a government can be created only once during a war. And, it is clear that creating it will not be so easy. And no matter how much we call on politicians to unite around the president of Ukraine Zelenskyy, everything will depend primarily on him. Because everyone has heard about voluntarism and the dictatorship of the president in relation to parliament, the government and the security forces. They have heard that the president does not accept criticism and any objections, they have seen how easily he removes people from office, without explaining anything to anyone and conveying information about the resignation of this or that person by an official decree.

Therefore, the people who should come to the new government, whom we want to see at the head of the executive branch of a state capable of defending itself, must believe that Zelenskyy, having moderated his thirst for power, will retract his claws. And he will give credit to the country for Victory. The trinity of the president, government and parliament of Ukraine is critically necessary for our country today.

Moreover, such a step would be a powerful signal to our tired international partners: we are able to adequately assess the situation, regroup forces, determine priorities and effectively implement them not only in words, but also in deeds.

If this path still looks like a fantasy to you, then you have most likely never truly felt how strongly the heart of Ukraine beats. And now it can stop at any moment. But no one believes in our victory as much as we do. And no one will do as much for the country as we can if we unite.