You're reading: Election campaign for Kyiv mayor and council starts on Saturday

The campaign for the early elections of Kyiv mayor and the city council, which will be held on May 25, the same day as the presidential election, has started.

These will be early elections and the term of office of the elected mayor and members of Kyiv City Council will last for about a year and a half until the next local elections, which are to take place in October 2015 on the territory of Ukraine.

Under the law, Kyiv mayoral elections are held in one single-mandate constituency. The current legislation provides that the mayoral election is held in one round, and a candidate who gets most votes is announced its winner.

The elections of Kyiv City Council will be conducted under a mixed proportional-majority system, with one half of a total of 120 deputies of the council to be elected under party tickets, and the other half to be elected in single-member constituencies. The candidates can be nominated by both parties as well as be self-nominees.

The nomination of candidates for the post of mayor and members of Kyiv Council, who will run on party lists, starts 34 days (on April 21) and ends 28 days (April 27) before the election. That of candidates for members of Kyiv Council who run in single-seat constituency starts 20 days (on April 25) and ends 26 days (April 29) before the ballot. A person cannot stand for a mayor and a member of the council simultaneously.

Leader of UDAR Party Vitali Klitschko already announced his intention to run for Kyiv mayor.

Other candidates may include Leader of the European Party of Ukraine Mykola Katerynchuk and MP Lesia Orobets.