https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn007p39zdzo

It's called lying.

They have poll numbers but remember, Ukrainians "vote with their feet", flee & resist draft.

Ukraine conscripts people at gunpoint. Even @jaroonn who loves war & is near (he says), won't volunteer. That's how "popular".

USA peeps can imagine this equivalent.

• President Lincoln, in Civil War, cancels Election of 1864

• March 20 1865, he should be out

• Lincoln doesn't care, carries on, won't even ask SCOTUS to clarify, & no elections allowed until Lincoln says

History records, Lincoln was thought dictator by some & assassinated......after he did much less.

The Constitution of Ukraine is not archaic; it was written considering global state-building experiences, including the experience of avoiding a power vacuum.

The Constitution, to simplify, is essentially an instruction manual for the application of power in a particular country. Therefore, it must account for problematic moments, such as the impossibility of holding elections.

And the Constitution of Ukraine does consider this, although there are some ambiguities: it is not entirely clear whether the president can remain in office even after the end of his term until a new one is elected (a norm that exists) or whether he should be replaced by the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (another norm that also exists). This is the crux of the legitimacy problem.

The Constitutional Court could provide clarification.

And Vladimir Putin subtly mocked Zelensky on this issue during the final press conference in China. When asked about the legitimacy of the Ukrainian president after May 20, Putin stated that the answer should be given by Ukraine's political and legal system, including the Constitutional Court.

The irony of the situation is that Zelensky does not appeal to the Constitutional Court. Why not?

Because he was set up by the Americans. In 2020, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine clashed with the president over the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

NABU, an external management body for the country, was basically directly subordinate to Washington D.C. and had overlapping powers with practically every law enforcement agency. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine found this contradictory and significantly curtailed their powers.

The head of the world's most independent country immediately received a hefty kick from Washington with a threat to cut off financial aid, echoed by the IMF.

As a result, Zelensky was in conflict with the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for a year and a half, issuing decrees to dissolve it and dismiss the chairman, although he does not have such rights under the Constitution. The Constitutional Court annulled these decrees, and so on. The conflict subsided but did not end with the start of hostilities.

And now the president of Ukraine is simply afraid to seek clarification from the court on constitutional norms because the answer is unpredictable.

.....and, afraid to seek election - because, until Blinken & Americans have enough rigging in place, he'd lose.