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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Fedorov’s video appeal calling for elections is effectively the former defense minister’s shift into opposition. Situationally, this is a response to the fact that the issue of his return to the post of defense minister has been definitively closed. But now the stakes are rising.
Essentially, Fedorov is proposing that Ukrainians, at some point in the (likely not distant) future, decide who is right in his confrontation with Zelensky. And this is not simply about a personal rivalry. Fedorov is directly hinting at a confrontation with the “collective Zelensky,” in which Yermak and Arakhamia are visually present and which, from the context, is accused of corruption. This is like a prelude to his own electoral campaign. It is a call to start a discussion about elections during wartime. And it is a way to radically reshape the political agenda and seize the domestic political strategic initiative.
The minimum goal of this appeal is to influence the vote in the Verkhovna Rada on the defense minister. If he can emotionally and politically affect the moods of deputies, then the vote on the defense minister could fail and create a new situation in parliament.
The maximum goal is to radically turn the domestic political process around through the idea of elections during the war. At the moment, the majority of Ukrainians are against elections during wartime. But there is a noticeable trend of decreasing numbers of opponents to wartime elections. Right now, a little more than half of Ukrainians oppose elections during the war. Fedorov’s speech could change that proportion. The number of supporters of elections during wartime could increase significantly.
But how would these elections be held?
Holding normal elections by customary procedures during a war like this is virtually impossible.
And here the technological guru Mykhailo Fedorov could propose alternative voting technologies — voting via smartphone and possibly also voting by mail. I’m confident that very soon he will put forward his concrete proposals on this. He will act step by step to continuously keep the initiative in his hands.
Regarding criticism of electronic voting, we will now see that many, especially in the opposition, will change their minds about smartphone voting.
Easier than anything — even on a very tight timeline — would be to hold presidential elections in this way. And these elections would effectively become a referendum on confidence in Zelensky and Fedorov, and a choice between Zelensky and Fedorov. That is likely also part of Fedorov’s strategy. He cannot and does not want to wait. In that sense he is very similar to Zelensky. And Fedorov will fight Zelensky in his style — decisively and quickly — but with his own technological advantages that Zelensky does not have.
At the moment, the Cardboard Maidan and all of Zelensky’s opponents are gaining new slogans and a leading idea that will be their driving force.
It seems a fundamentally new stage of Ukraine’s domestic political situation during the war is beginning. But let us not forget about the war itself. The war is the main challenge for all of us, including Zelensky and Fedorov.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Федоров завдає удару у відповідь". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZmiOne.
