KIEV, June 4 – Kiev Mayor Leonid Chernovetskiy, who hs lived in Israel for the past two years, letting President Viktor Yanukovych’s loyalist run the city, announced his resignation on Saturday.

The resignation, one day before Chernovetskiy’s official duties were to expire, allows the local authorities, controlled by the Regions Party, to delay the Kiev mayoral election for months.

The delay will most likely benefit Yanukovych’s loyalist, Oleksandr Popov, who as the appointed head of the Kiev state administration has been running the city for the past two years.