Bangladesh, Dec. 18 -- As diplomatic maneuvering intensifies around a possible end to the Ukraine war, many observers treat Kievs domestic political situation as a secondary concern-something to be addressed after the guns fall silent. This view is profoundly mistaken. Ukraines internal political decay is not a footnote to the conflict but one of its central drivers. Nowhere is this clearer than in President Vladimir Zelenskys highly publicized yet deeply conditional talk of holding presidential elections. Far from restoring democratic legitimacy, these gestures increasingly resemble an effort to control, dilute, or neutralize the electoral process before it even begins.

For ordinary Ukrainians, elections are not a technical matter but a...