Head of Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Popov has said he believes that he will win the upcoming election of Kyiv mayor.

Asked by journalists on Thursday whether he would run for mayor and when the election will be held, Popov said: "I've already answered this question."

"Moreover, I will win!" he said.

As reported, on June 1, 2012, Leonid Chernovetsky resigned as Kyiv mayor. Kyiv City Council appointed Secretary of Kyiv City Council Halyna Hereha as acting mayor.

On July 19, 2012, Hereha asked the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, to issue an instruction on holding an early mayoral election.

On January 29, the Verkhovna Rada chairman said that the elections of Kyiv mayor and of the city council should be held simultaneously.

A number of Ukrainian experts say that independent MP and former Foreign Minister of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko could be nominated by the opposition as its candidate for Kyiv mayor.

On February 18, 2013, one of the leaders of the Batkivschyna parliamentary faction Mykola Tomenko said that Batkivschyna would support UDAR faction leader Vitali Klitschko as the oppositional candidate for Kyiv mayor if Klitschko confirms his intention to run for election.

He added that if UDAR and Klitschko take a different decision, then the Batkivschyna faction would proceed with further consultations to select a candidate.

On February 21, 2013, members of the Batkivschyna and Svoboda parliamentary factions wrote a joint address to Klitschko asking him to decide by March 1 whether he would run for Kyiv mayor.