Zelenskyy, Zaluzhnyy, or Fedorov: Who Do Ukrainians Want to See as the Next President, and When Will the Election Take Place?

However, the topic of elections regularly comes up in international negotiations, in statements by the Russian side, American politicians, and Western partners. Opinion polls on potential candidates and Ukrainians’ preferences are also published regularly, while the Verkhovna Rada and the Central Election Commission are preparing the rules for the first postwar election.

“Shelter” looked into when Ukrainians will be able to return to the polls and who they are currently ready to see as the next president.

Elections During Wartime

Article 19 of the Law “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law” explicitly prohibits holding presidential, parliamentary, and local elections while martial law is in effect in the country.

This is not merely a formal legal prohibition. Holding full-scale elections during active warfare is practically impossible. Millions of Ukrainians are abroad, hundreds of thousands are serving in the Armed Forces, part of the territory is occupied, and a significant number of polling stations have been destroyed or are located in areas under constant shelling.

In June of this year, a poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showed that the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians—88%—expect a reset of the central government after the war, and the number of those expecting a change in the presidency has risen to 67%.

The civil society network OPORA noted that even under a purely formal scenario, it would take about four months between the lifting of martial law and election day. It could take up to a month to schedule the election, and the presidential campaign lasts another 90 days. However, experts and the Central Election Commission consider even this timeframe insufficient and propose allowing at least six months of preparation before the official start of the electoral process. Therefore, the scenario of snap elections “immediately after a ceasefire” appears politically feasible but organizationally risky.

Political analysts note that Ukrainians are generally disillusioned with the government, particularly the parliament, and want to re-elect members of parliament, who, for their part, have expressed a certain weariness from their long tenure in parliament. However, the scenario in which parliamentary elections could take place before the presidential election is unlikely.

“The Office of the President is considering various options, and one of them is that the presidential election should take place first, followed by early parliamentary elections. As far as I know, the president’s team is considering precisely this scenario. But this poses a serious problem, as parliament has long been in need of renewal,” Fesenko notes.

According to him, parliament has already exceeded the term of its mandate as stipulated by the Constitution. Parliamentary elections were supposed to take place back in 2023, but due to the war, in accordance with the Constitution, they were not held. Therefore, the situation with parliament is indeed such that it is in dire need of renewal.

“In my opinion, a different approach would have been more logical: to hold parliamentary elections first, and then the presidential ones. Most likely, they could have been held almost simultaneously, with a gap of about two months. But that’s a matter of the election calendar and political agreements,” says the political analyst.

According to “Shelter,” the president’s team wants to do everything possible in the upcoming parliamentary elections to regain a single-party majority, but political analysts say this is increasingly an unlikely scenario.

"The absence of elections does not mean the absence of a political process. We need to start talking today about future leaders, their values, and their vision for the country’s development, while the government must explain its decisions, engage in dialogue with society, and be as transparent as possible. The cardboard protests are a signal that people want change and want to be heard. If the electoral process is currently impossible due to the war, that doesn’t mean political discussion has to stop,” notes Valeriy Pekar, co-founder of the “New Country” Civic Platform.

Pressure from Partners and Russian Manipulation

The topic of elections in Ukraine regularly appears on the international agenda as well. During negotiations, Russia has repeatedly linked the “peace process” to the need to hold elections, and last year, U.S. President Donald Trump and representatives of his administration spoke about the importance of elections following a ceasefire.

“First, the issue of elections is part of the peace process. And there are certain risks for us here. Ukraine is well aware of this and is trying to convey to our partners—primarily the Americans involved in the negotiation process—that elections in Ukraine will definitely take place, but not right now. This is precisely the position that the Ukrainian side has consistently defended. At the same time, we understand the risks. If the issue of elections becomes a subject of negotiations with Russia, the Russian side will begin to put forward its own demands,” says Fesenko.

In his view, one such demand could be opening Ukraine’s information space to Russian media, which is categorically unacceptable to Ukraine, especially after this war.

Political analysts describe several possible scenarios for holding the next elections. The first is a lasting ceasefire with security guarantees. After that, the authorities could lift martial law, begin a preparatory period, and schedule presidential elections.

The second scenario is a prolonged truce without a final peace agreement. In this case, political pressure regarding the elections will grow, especially from some Western partners. But within Ukraine, the question will remain: Is it possible to run a campaign if Russia is capable of resuming large-scale attacks at any moment?

And the third scenario is the continuation of the war without a lasting ceasefire. Under such conditions, elections would remain blocked by law, and the incumbent president and parliament would continue to exercise their powers.

Presidential Approval Ratings

Despite the complete lack of clarity regarding the elections, polling organizations are systematically gauging the sentiments of Ukrainians.

For example, the “Rating” polling group conducted a survey on July 20–21, 2026, according to which 22.3% of respondents are ready to vote for Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the first round, 14.9% for Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, and 13.4% would vote for Mykhailo Fedorov. Next are Kyrylo Budanov with 7.2%, Oleksandr Usyk with 5.9%, Petro Poroshenko with 4.6%, Ihor Terekhov with 4.3%, and Dmytro Razumkov with 3.7%. Andriy Biletsky is supported by 2.3%, and Yulia Tymoshenko by 1.7%. Nearly 12% of those surveyed are undecided.

"It should be noted that the current ratings reflect the media and socio-political frenzy surrounding Mykhailo Fedorov and his dismissal; so we need to wait for the political situation to stabilize somewhat in order to assess polling trends under calmer conditions. Back in May and June of this year, trust in Fedorov and Syrskyy was roughly on par. One week in July changed everything,” Fesenko notes.

Valentin Kim, a socio-political psychologist and expert in nonverbal communication, points out that most of the leaders in the poll have not declared any presidential ambitions at all.

Political experts say that the poll reflects the profile of a potential candidate for whom Ukrainians are ready to vote. This is, so to speak, a wartime president—a former commander-in-chief, military intelligence officer, and technocrat.

Until 2022, a candidate could build a campaign on television popularity, a party’s brand, or promises of rapid improvements in people’s lives. Now, the key characteristics have become responsibility, decision-making ability, personal resilience, and involvement in the country’s defense.

“If the election takes place immediately after the war ends, military figures will have a better chance of success, since Ukrainians today vote primarily for strong personalities rather than political platforms. At the same time, this effect will weaken over time. It is also important to note that current approval ratings largely reflect not the personal political activities of potential candidates, but rather the president’s actions. Trust in figures such as Valeriy Zaluzhny, Mykhailo Fedorov, or Kyrylo Budanov is currently being shaped largely by what is happening in the political arena surrounding President Zelenskyy,” explains Valentin Kim.

Valeriy Pekar believes that current ratings do not reflect the actual pool of future presidential candidates, since most potential contenders have not yet announced their political ambitions.

“Today, many people who could potentially run for office are not stepping into the public arena with their ideas or presenting their vision for the country’s development. Because of this, there is no public debate. This is entirely natural before the official start of the election process. But we need to understand: as long as there is no full-fledged political process, we are effectively seeing neither the people nor the ideas that will truly contend for the highest offices of state,” Pekar explains.

Valentin Kim adds that today, the political arena remains virtually empty. “The government, figuratively speaking, is lying on the floor, and society is simply waiting to see who will pick it up,” he concludes.