Basic Principles of Local Elections

1. Elections of members of the village, settlement and city councils (for cities with less than 10,000 voters), or city rayon councils shall be held in accordance with the system of relative majority in multi-member election districts, which are created in the territory of the respective territorial community. No less than two and no more than four council members shall be elected in each of the election districts.


2. The elections of members of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as well as the elections of members of the oblast, rayon, rayon in city, city, village, settlement councils (of territorial communities with 10,000 or more voters), shall be held based on the system of proportional representation by using open electoral lists of candidates for local council members (hereinafter, electoral lists) in multi-member election districts, into which the unified multimember election district shall be divided, which coincides with the territory, respectively, of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, an oblast, rayon, rayon in city, city, village or settlement in accordance with the administrative-territorial structure or the territory of a city, village or settlement territorial community.


3. The election of a village, settlement or city mayor (cities with less than 75,000 voters) shall be held based on the relative majority plurality electoral system in a single village, settlement or city election district, which coincides with the territory, respectively, of a village, settlement or city, in accordance with the administrative-territorial structure, or the territory of a village, settlement or city territorial community.


4. The election of a city mayor (cities with 75,000 or more voters) shall be held based on the absolute majority plurality electoral system in a single city election district, which coincides with the territory of a city, in accordance with the administrative-territorial structure, or with the territory of a city territorial community.


5. The electoral system, under which elections of members of city, village or settlement council or city mayor are held, is determined based on the number of voters who have the right to vote in the respective local elections as of the first day of the month preceding the month in which the election process of the respective local election begins.

Information on the number of voters entitled to vote in elections of members of city, village or settlement council and/or mayor, as well as on the electoral system under which the respective elections are to be held in accordance with parts one to four of this article shall be published by the Central Election Commission on its official website no later than five days before the day of the election process of the respective ordinary, extraordinary, or first elections of members of the city, village or settlement council and/or mayor.

The electoral system under which the elections of members of the city, village, settlement council and/or mayor are conducted, previously determined in accordance with this part, may not be changed due to a change in the number of voters eligible to vote in the respective local elections before the appointment of the next ordinary or extraordinary elections in such city, village or settlement or the respective territorial community.

6. Supplementary elections of members of village and settlement councils shall be held according to the relative majority plurality system in the multi-member election districts, into which the territory of a territorial community that has joined another village or settlement territorial community is divided.