parties Parties that have been established less than a year before the election and political blocs were at first not permitted to compete in the election. This meant that parties like Strong Ukraine and Front of Changes who are high in election polls were excluded. Soon Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (which won 156 out of 450 seats in the 2007 parliamentary elections) announced it would not participate in the elections but its main component, the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland", will. On August 30, 2010 the Verkhovna Rada approved Party of Regions leader Oleksandr Yefremov's amendments to the law on the election extends the opportunity to participate in local elections to all parties, not only those registered more than a year before the elections. Similar bills submitted by lawmakers Lev Biriuk (Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko) and Arseniy Yatsenyuk (Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense) had failed to collect the necessary number of votes to pass. Electoral issues Initially parties that had been established less than a year before the election and political blocs were not permitted to compete in the election; but on August 30, 2010 this restriction was abandoned by the Verkhovna Rada. Self-nomination for the post of mayor was not allowed. Half of the total number of local council deputies were to be elected from the lists of political parties in a multi-mandate constituency. The other half was elected under a majority system in single-mandate constituencies. The elections were held with closed lists. The election campaign started on September 11, 2010. Running up to the election a number of opposition parties complained about violations of election legislation by election commissions across the country. A number of territorial election commissions contained members who although expelled by their party were appointed under the quota of the party they were expelled from. Owing to the anomalies in the electoral law some parties, such as Batkivshchyna, were unable to register their candidates in several districts and provinces. Batkivshchyna-leader Yulia Tymoshenko claimed that "fraudulent Batkivshchyna party organizations were registered on orders from Viktor Yanukovych". Regional exceptions Except the election of Kyiv mayor, the Next Kyiv local election and the elections to Ternopil Regional Council elections will be conducted in all local authorities. The elections in rural councils are held under a simple plurality voting system based on single-member constituencies; the elections of mayors of cities, towns and villages are held under a plurality voting system in single-member constituencies that lie