KYIV. Oct 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The vast majority of residents of Kirovograd during the survey conducted by the city council on Sunday spoke in favor of the return of the city's former name of Yelisavetgrad, according to local news portal Gre4ka.

"Kirovohrad City Council has announced the results of a survey on renaming Kirovohrad. The survey involved 45,863 people. Of these, 35,153 (76.6% of respondents) voted for Yelisavetgrad," the statement reads.

According to the report, 4,302 people (9.4% of respondents) preferred the name of Inhulsk, 3 thousand 509 people (7.7% of respondents) the name of Zlatopol, 1,281 (2.8%) spoke for Kropyvnytsky, 708 people (1.5%) for Blahomyr, 624 (1.4%) for Eksampey, and 286 (0.6%) voted for Kozatsky.

According to the 2013 census, the city's population was 231,000.

Under the law on decommunization, regional authorities are obliged to hold public hearings by November 21 of this year and submit to the Verkhovna Rada the proposals for renaming of populated localities, whose current names are reminders of the totalitarian regime.