Over 70% of Ukrainian citizens do not support elections during ceasefire – survey
The survey of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, carried out on May 2-12, 2025, has indicated that 71% of Ukrainians do not support holding elections during a ceasefire with Russia, even with security guarantees for Ukraine, while 25% of the respondents take the opposite view.
The survey also showed a slight increase in support for holding elections either after a ceasefire or right now, rising from 19% in March 2025 to 25% now.
Nonetheless, the proportion of those who believe elections should be held only after the war has fully ended dropped from 78% to 71%.
The survey also indicated that Ukrainians’ trust in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has increased from 69% in early March to 74%. A total of 22% say they do not trust the president.
Compared to March 2025, the level of trust in the president rose by five percentage points (from 69% to 74%), while distrust fell from 28% to 22%. Accordingly, the balance improved from +41% to +52%.
The sociologists note that in all regions of Ukraine, the majority of the population expresses trust in the president, and regional differences are relatively minor.
The Omnibus public opinion poll took place from May 2 to 12. Researchers conducted telephone interviews based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers across all government-controlled regions, surveying 1,010 respondents aged 18 and older.
Under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50%, 3.5% for indicators close to 25%, 2.5% for indicators close to 10%, and 1.8% for indicators close to 5%.
In wartime conditions, a certain systematic deviation is added to the specified formal error.
Previously, Ukrainian civil society organisations explained that Ukraine cannot hold elections during martial law.
