On Tuesday, September 20, the Kharkiv City Territorial Election Commission accepted documents from two people wishing to run for mayor.

"Today we have accepted documents from two self-nominated candidates - Kostiantyn Nemichev and Mykhailo Dobkin," head of the city election commission Olena Matviyenko told Interfax-Ukraine.

MP of several convocations, ex-head of the Kharkiv regional state administration Mykhailo Dobkin held the post of mayor from 2006 to 2010. In the next local elections in 2020, he was registered as a candidate as a self-nominated candidate, but later withdrew his candidacy in favor of the then mayor Hennadiy Kernes, who was being treated at the German clinic Charite.

Head of the regional organization of the National Corps Kostiantyn Nemichev positions himself as the only candidate from the pro-Ukrainian forces.

As previously reported, local organizations of six pro-Ukrainian parties ("Aktsent", "Holos", "Demsokyra", "European Solidarity", "National Corps" and "Right Sector") signed a memorandum of partnership and cooperation for the election of Kharkiv mayor, which provided for the selection and nomination of a single candidate. At the end of August, representatives of the signatory parties held a vote on the candidacy of a single candidate, the winner of which was Nemichev. However, two parties (Aktsent and European Solidarity) later withdrew their votes, with the EU saying it reserves the right to nominate its own candidate.

As reported, on March 30, the Verkhovna Rada scheduled early elections of the mayor of Kharkiv for October 31, 2021. This decision was made in connection with the death of Hennadiy Kernes, elected mayor in the autumn 2020 elections.