Abraham Lincoln
US president 1861-1865; won re-election during the Civil War in 1864.
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th US president, from 1861 until his assassination in 1865, and won re-election in 1864 during the Civil War. On 11 October 2026 Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would vote only after a 60-day total Ceasefire.
Last refreshed: 12 October 2026
Could Ukraine vote mid-war, as America did in 1864?
Timeline for Abraham Lincoln
Mentioned in: Zelenskyy ties elections to a ceasefire
Russia-Ukraine War 2026Background
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the Union through the American Civil War and played a major role in the abolition of slavery.
The United States held its 1864 presidential election in the middle of that war, and Lincoln won a second term. The vote stands as the standard proof that a democracy can hold elections while fighting for its survival.
That precedent is regularly set against Ukraine. Ukrainian law bars elections under martial law, and after Donald Trump said on 10 October 2026 that Ukrainians should get a new leader, Zelenskyy offered a vote after a 60-day total ceasefire. Britain took the opposite course in The Second World War and postponed its general election until July 1945; the two cases bracket Kyiv's choice.