The Batkivschyna parliamentary faction will support Vitali Klitschko as a single oppositional candidate for Kyiv mayor if Klitschko confirms his intention to run for election, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information and one of the leaders of the Batkivschyna faction Mykola Tomenko has said.

"At a meeting of the Batkivschyna faction in the Verkhovna Rada we have reaffirmed our intention to nominate a single candidate for Kyiv mayor," Tomenko said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.

According to him, the faction has asked UDAR Party Leader Vitali Klitschko to decide on his position regarding the nomination of a single candidate for the mayoral election in Kyiv.

"If the UDAR Party and its leader Vitali Klitschko confirm their intention to run for mayor, Batkivschyna will support him," Tomenko said.

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

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 a single candidate for Kyiv mayor.