Runoff Election Underway in Ukraine Except in Rebel Held Areas

The second round of Ukraine’s local elections kicked off Sunday morning in the capital Kiev and 28 other cities across the nation after none of the mayoral candidates in those cities managed to achieve the minimum number of votes needed to win in the first round of the elections on Oct. 25.

In Ukraine, if a city's population exceeds 90,000, then a candidate must win more than 50 percent of the vote in order to be elected as the head of the city or town.

According to the country's Central Election Commission, there are 35 cities with over 90,000 voters across Ukraine, with the exception of the rebel-held territories. Today's second round will be attended by the two candidates with the highest number of votes.

The rebel-held territory in the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk will not participate in the electoral process since they postponed elections to 2016.

ANALYSIS: What's at Stake in Ukraine's Elections?

A total of 132 political parties have registered for local elections. However, three communist parties have been banned from participating in today's elections as part of a decree signed by the country's Justice Minister Pavel Petrenko in July.

The ban used the de-communization law signed by Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko on May 15. The legislation includes a ban on Soviet symbols and denouncing communist ideology.

The elections are seen as a test for the government of pro-Western President Poroshenko and his Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, whose approval ratings are reported to be a few percentage points above zero. Yatsenyuk's People's Front party, which was formed in 2014, is not fielding any candidates because of its low popularity.

Pro-president candidates won in only three major Ukrainian cities in the first round three weeks ago.

ANALYSIS: Local Elections in Ukraine Will Have a National Impact