The OP explained Zelenskyi's initiative to poll: "That's how true democracy works"
Today, Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced a nationwide poll on October 25 (election day), where Ukrainians will be asked to answer 5 questions. The Office of the President explained the poll's purpose.
The president's website informs.
"For several decades, one of the unpleasant and obviously undemocratic aspects of political life in Ukraine has been the separation of politics from our citizens' expectations. The state is separate, society is separate. A restricted circle of so-called professional politicians was engaged in entirely developing both issues of strategic importance for Ukraine and solutions to them. We see the key risks for our future in this. The state could not and not always wanted to hear its citizens and understand the basic needs of society.
Among the key priorities of President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in 2019 and aimed at significantly reformatting the principles of our political system was to give society much more opportunities to decide how to develop the state. To open the door to true democracy in Ukraine. When society independently plans its basic expectations and receives direct tools to implement these expectations in everyday life. For this reason, the parliament is working on a set of laws on democracy. And a key one on the Ukrainian referendum is already on the way to adoption by deputies.
But we can not use referendums as the only means of the citizens' direct influence on public policy. Polls are another tool. Each tool has its own meaning and legal significance. The nationwide poll proposed by the President will give every citizen the opportunity to express what is crucial for our society so we can see public opinion at the state level without adjustments by various engaged "experts" and politicians with over 20 years of experience in manipulating people's expectations.
The state asks direct questions to society and receives direct answers without intermediaries. That's how true democracy works.
We stress that the poll proposed on October 25 will not have direct legal consequences, unlike the referendum. We need this form of direct democracy because the people should decide politics in the state, but not only those who have enough media influence and money to manipulate the public opinion in their personal interests.
On October 25, we will learn what people really think. And also we will ask the questions nobody ever wanted to ask directly to the fellow citizens in our country," the Office of the President reported.
