Mayor George Flaggs Jr. qualified for re-election to a third term as mayor of Vicksburg on Friday.

Flaggs, who is running as an independent, filed his qualifying papers with City Clerk Walter Osborne in Osborne’s office at City Hall. He is the first candidate to qualify for mayor.

Other qualifiers include Vickie Bailey, Thomas “TJ” Mayfield and Alex Monsour, South Ward alderman, and Michael Mayfield, North Ward Alderman. Monsour and Mayfield are incumbents. The mayor’s salary is $106,520.12 per year. The salary for aldermen is $85,224.67 per year.

To run for office, a candidate must be a registered voter in the city where they plan to run, have never been convicted of bribery, perjury or any other crime punished by a minimum of one year in prison, unless pardoned, and never been convicted of a felony in state or federal court.

To qualify for a party primary, a candidate must submit qualifying papers at least 60 days before the first primary and pay a $10 qualifying fee.

Candidates running as independents must file qualifying papers and a qualifying petition signed by 50 registered voters in the city within 60 days before the first primary election. Independent candidates do not have to pay a filing fee.

To win in the first primary, which is a party primary, a candidate must win by 50 percent of the vote plus one more vote.

The deadline for candidates to qualify for the upcoming municipal elections is Feb. 5 at 5 p.m. All three positions on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen will be contested, first in a primary election April 6 and then in the general election June 8.

By qualifying as an independent, Flaggs’ name will not be on the ballot until the June 8 election.