Kiev local election, 2014 July 2013 and effectively blocked attempts at its convening through mass protest in July 2013. As of 7 March 2013 possible candidates for the post of the Mayor of Kiev were Vitali Klitschko (UDAR), Andriy Illyenko (Svoboda), Petro Poroshenko (independent candidate) and Oleh Liashko (Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko). Oleksandr Popov of Party of Regions and former Head of Kiev City Administration stated in February 2013 that he was a candidate. On 14 December 2013 President Viktor Yanukovych suspended him as Head of the Kiev City State Administration. The same day the General Prosecutor of Ukraine's Office handed "a notification
Viktor Yanukovych the transitional government went to representatives of the right-wing extremist nationalist group Svoboda, condemned by the EU in 2012 (see Svoboda Party). Unlike his 28 February press conference, Yanukovych did not take questions from reporters. On 28 March 2014, Yanukovych asked the Party of Regions to exclude him. He was excluded on 29 March during a party congress along with several senior figures of his régime. On 13 April, Yanukovych again gave a press conference in Rostov-on-Don, this time accompanied by former Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka and former interior minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko. On 13 June 2014, Yanukovych released a video