1/ Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine should hold a presidential election in wartime. Nazi Germany demanded the same of Britain in July 1942. This is the story of why the UK delayed holding elections throughout World War II. ⬇️ 
2/ There were no General Elections in the UK between 1935 and July 1945, making the wartime Parliament the longest in modern British history. Whereas Ukraine's constitution prohibits holding elections under martial law, the UK Parliament had to vote annually to prolong itself.
3/ This was not the first time it had been done. Five prolongations were passed between 1916 and 1918 to extend the life of the Parliament that had been elected in December 1910. During WW2, five Prolongation of Parliament Acts were passed between 1940 and 1944.
4/ Notably, there was no Prolongation of Parliament Act 1945 and a General Election was held on 5 July 1945, a month before the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945. British forces were still very much engaged in fighting the Japanese in Burma up to the time of the surrender.
5/ In July 1942, English-language German broadcasts urged the UK to hold a General Election on the grounds that the British people had not been allowed to have a say about whether they wanted to continue the war with Germany or to have declared war on Japan in December 1941:
6/ "The holding of a General Election would not only be a good idea but is also necessary. So far the nation has not been consulted about anything connected with this war.
7/ "We were not even asked whether we wanted to go to war over the question of Danzig, nor has the nation been asked whether the war should continue. The nation was also not asked if it were prepared to go to war with Japan."
8/ This was not the first time the Nazis agitated for a general election. Another German-controlled broadcaster urged the British people in May 1942 to "start a new and louder demand for a General Election, a people's vote."
9/ This was of course enemy propaganda, aimed at weakening national resolve. While the wartime government and MPs admitted "the difficulties of a House of Commons that gets older and staler with the passage of time", there were very good reasons not to hold an election.
10/ These were set out on multiple occasions through the war, but the debate on 30 September 1942 provides a particularly good summary. Introducing the bill's third reading, Home Secretary Herbert Morrison highlighted five key reasons:
11/ 🔺 There was no up-to-date electoral register, due to the large amount of administrative and clerical work involved;
🔺 The amount of work involved to update it and runn an election would be an "enormous use of man-power, [and] a diversion of the national effort";
🔺 The amount of work involved to update it and runn an election would be an "enormous use of man-power, [and] a diversion of the national effort";
12/🔺 National unity would be weakened by "the stimulation of a good deal of controversy at a time when national unity is a matter of vital importance";
13/🔺 Normal electoral politics would not function "because the nation is essentially united on the prosecution of the war. All political parties are agreed that our first duty in this situation is to prosecute the war and to win it."
14/🔺 The enemy could also sabotage the election through bombing raids "which would be a little disturbing to the peaceful conduct of election meetings and all the other activities associated with a General Election."
15/ Ukraine is subject to all of these difficulties and more. Unlike the UK, it has a large amount of territory and millions of citizens under enemy occupation, who are unable to participate in an election.
16/ It also has a huge number of internally displaced people, making it very difficult to create an accurate electoral register. The UK had a similar problem in WW2 - almost 3.75 million people were displaced internally, compared to about 3.6 million in Ukraine currently.
17/ The US, Australia and Canada were able to hold elections during wartime because they suffered very little internal disruption due to the war. The UK was in a very different situation then, with very similar difficulties to those being experienced by Ukraine now. /end
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