Presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

were scheduled to be held in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in March or April 2024. However, as

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

has been in effect since 24 February 2022 in response to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, no elections were held because Ukrainian law does not allow presidential elections to be held when martial law is in effect. Martial law has been extended in 90-day intervals since the full-scale invasion with parliament's approval, and has most recently () been extended for the 15th time until 9 August 2025. Incumbent President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

has not confirmed if he will seek reelection. When asked in a January 2025 interview, he said that seeking a second term was not his current goal or focus, but his decision would depend on the outcome of the war.

Background

Postponement

Article 19 of Ukraine's "On the Legal Regime of Martial Law" bans presidential, parliamentary, and local elections under martial law, while Article 10 states that the powers of the president, parliament, and

Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine (), is the highest body of state Executive (government), executive power in Ukraine. As the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republi ...

cannot be terminated under martial law. Article 108 of the

Constitution of Ukraine The Constitution of Ukraine (, ) is the fundamental law of Ukraine. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the ''Verkhovna Rada'', the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes o ...

stipulates that "The President of Ukraine exercises his or her powers until the assumption of office by the newly-elected President of Ukraine", allowing incumbent President

to legitimately remain president until the next president is sworn in, even after the expiration of the five-year term to which he was elected in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. Apart from the legal prohibition, both government and opposition politicians in Ukraine questioned the feasibility of a 2024 election, citing concerns over security and displaced voters as the Russian invasion continued. Russia controls 18% of Ukraine's territory , and nearly 14 million Ukrainians have either fled abroad or been displaced internally. Other challenges identified include danger to voters and likely disruption of the voting process due to Russian bombardment; the inability of citizens in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to vote; the inability of soldiers to vote or run as candidates; damaged polling infrastructure; an outdated voter registry that has not been updated to reflect millions of displaced voters; expanded state powers and restricted rights under martial law that would limit campaigning and prevent fair competition for opposition candidates; and the lack of funds. A poll released by KIIS in October 2023 reported that 81% of Ukrainians did not want elections until the war was over, and more than 200 civil society institutions, NGOs, and human rights groups have formally opposed wartime elections. In November 2023, Zelenskyy said "now is not the right time for elections", in response to a claim by

European Solidarity European Solidarity (, ; , YeS) is a political party in Ukraine. It has its roots in a parliamentary group called Solidarity dating from 2000 and has existed since in various forms as a political outlet for Petro Poroshenko. The party with its the ...

MP Oleksiy Goncharenko that Zelenskyy had decided to hold elections on 31 March 2024. Later in November, all political parties represented in the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

(Ukraine's national parliament) signed a document in which they agreed to postpone holding any national election until after the end of martial law and agreed to work on a special law that would regulate the first post-war election, which would take place no earlier than six months after the cancellation of martial law. The postponement of the election was criticised by representatives of the Russian government.

Dmitry Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov (, ; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat serving as the Kremlin Press Secretary, spokesman for President of Russia, Russian president Vladimir Putin since 2012.Russian President The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the Federal State Council and the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. I ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

, contended that the move deprived Zelenskyy of formal legitimacy; Russia held its own presidential election in 2024, which was criticised by international observers as having unprecedented levels of fraud and irregularity. On 26 February 2025, after a previous failed vote on a similar resolution, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution reaffirming that elections should not be held during

, and also pledged to hold a presidential election upon the conclusion of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

. On 6 March 2025 opposition politicians

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

and

Yulia Tymoshenko Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( Hrihyan born 27 November 1960) is a Ukrainian politician, who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2005, and again from 2007 until 2010; the first and only woman in Ukraine to hold that position. She has been ...

, after having confirmed that they had held discussions with

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

representatives, confirmed that they still opposed elections held during wartime.

Electoral system

The

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

is elected for a five-year term using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

; if no candidate receives an

absolute majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a gr ...

in the first round, a second round is expected to take place three weeks after the first. According to Article 103 of the constitution, in the event of pre-term termination of presidential authority, the election of a new president must take place within 90 days of the previous president's departure from office. The constitution allows presidents to serve a maximum of two terms in office, though only

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (, ; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine, serving from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. The only president of Ukraine to serve two terms, his presidency was marked by demo ...

Background

Postponement

Electoral system

Candidates

Announced intent to run

Potential candidates

Opinion polls

See also