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Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko (Ukrainian: Віктор Андрійович Ющенко) (born 23 February 1954) is the President of Ukraine. As leader of the Our Ukraine (Nasha Ukrayina) political coalition, he was the main opposition candidate in the October–November 2004 Ukrainian presidential election. Ukraine's Central Election Commission declared him the winner of the 26 December 2004 re-run of the runoff election, by 52% to 44% over Viktor Yanukovych. The popular protest movement which brought him to power is today dubbed the "Orange Revolution."

Yushchenko had previously served as the chairman of the country's central bank from 1993 to 1999 and as the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 1999 to 2001.

Early life

Viktor A. Yushchenko was born on February 23, 1954 in Khoruzhivka, Sumy Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, in a family of teachers. His father Andriy Andriyovych Yushchenko (1919-1992) took part in the Second World War, where he was captured by Germans as POW and placed in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, but survived. After returning home Andriy Yushchenko taught English at a local school. Viktor's mother Varvara Tymofiyovna Yushchenko (1918-2005) was both a Physics and Math teacher at the same school.

Later on, Viktor Yushchenko graduated from the Ternopil Finance and Economics Institute, getting profession of accountant. After completing his studies (1975) he worked as a deputy of chief accountant in a kolkhoz, then served as a conscript in the Border Guard unit of KGB on the Soviet–Turkish border (1975-1976).

Central banker

Yushchenko worked in the banking system from 1976. From 1983 he was the Deputy Director for Agricultural Crediting at the Ukrainian Republican Office of the USSR State Bank. Then (1990-1993) he worked as vice-chairman and first vice-chairman of the joint-stock non-state-run agroindustrial bank Ukraina. In 1993, he was invited by Vadym Hetman to work in the newly-formed National Bank of Ukraine (Ukraine's central bank). After Hetman's resignation in 1993, Yushchenko was appointed the head of the supervisory board of the Bank. Later, in 1997, he was reappointed as the head of the Bank by the parliament.

As a central banker, Yushchenko played an important part in the creation of Ukraine's national currency, the hryvnia, and the establishment of a modern regulating system for commercial banking. He also successfully overcame a debilitating wave of hyper-inflation that hit the country and managed to defend the value of the currency following the 1998 financial crisis in Russia.

In 1998, he wrote a thesis on “The Development of supply and demand of money in Ukraine” and defended it in the Ukrainian Academy of Banking, getting Candidate of Economic Sciences (Doctor of Economics) degree.

Prime Minister

In December 1999, Yushchenko was unexpectedly nominated as prime minister by President Leonid Kuchma after the previous candidate, Valeriy Pustovoytenko, fell short of one vote to get ratified by the parliament.

In 2001, Yushchenko refused to support and lead the mass protests against Kuchma's regime caused by the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Moreover, he co-signed a highly critical public address with Kuchma calling the protesters "fascists" - despite the fact that many of them were supporters of his cabinet.

Significant economic progress was made during Yushchenko's cabinet service, though critics argue that this was made possible by the general situation of the economy, and was not the result of his actions. Soon, his government (particularly, deputy prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko) became embroiled in a confrontation with influential coal mining and natural gas industry leaders. The conflict resulted in a 2001 no-confidence vote by the parliament, which was mainly the work of Communists, who had opposed Yushchenko's economic policies, and centrist groups associated with the country's powerful "oligarchs". The vote was carried by 263 to 69 and resulted in Yushchenko's removal from office.

The fall of his government was viewed with dismay by many Ukrainians; four million votes were gathered in support of a petition supporting him and opposing the parliamentary vote and a 10,000-strong demonstration was held in Kiev.

"Our Ukraine" leader and political portrait

In 2002, Yushchenko became the leader of the Our Ukraine (Nasha Ukrayina) political coalition, which received a plurality of seats in the year's election to Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) . However, the number of seats won wasn't enough for a majority, and the efforts to form it together with other opposition parties failed. Since then, Yushchenko has remained the leader and public face of the "Our Ukraine" ("Nasha Ukrayina") parliament faction.

Yushchenko was widely regarded as the moderate political leader of anti-Kuchma opposition, since other opposition parties were less influential and had fewer seats in the parliament.

Since the end of his term as prime minister, Yushchenko has become a charismatic political figure popular among Ukrainians in the western and central regions of the country. As of 2001–2004, his rankings in popularity polls were higher than those of the president at the time, Leonid Kuchma.

As a politician, Viktor Yushchenko is widely perceived as a mixture of West-oriented and moderate Ukrainian nationalist. He is also an advocate of massive privatization of the economy. His opponents (and allies) sometimes criticize him for indecision and failure to reveal his position, while advocates argue that these are the signs of Yushchenko's commitment to teamwork, consensus, and negotiation. He is also often accused of being unable to form a united and strong team that is free of inner quarrels. One of his former political allies, Yulia Tymoshenko who, during the Kuchma presidency, was arrested and then cleared of fraud charges relating to gas privatization, is often perceived by Ukrainians as a more decisive and charismatic political figure.

Since becoming the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushenko has been a honorary leader of "Our Ukraine" party. In the latest parliament election in March 2006 the party, led by the Prime-minister Yekhanurov received less then 14% of the national vote, taking the third place behind Party of Regions, and Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.

Presidential election of 2004

In 2004, as President Kuchma's term came to an end, Yushchenko announced that he was an independent candidate for president. His major rival was Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Since his term as prime minister, Yushchenko had slightly modernized his political platform, adding social partnership and other liberal slogans to older ideas of European integration, including Ukraine joining NATO, and fighting corruption. Supporters of Yushchenko were organized in the "Syla Narodu" ("Power to the People") electoral coalition, which was led by himself and his political ally Yulia Tymoshenko, with the Our Ukraine coalition being the main constituent force.

Yushchenko's campaign was built on face-to-face communication with the voters, since the government prevented most major TV channels from providing equal coverage to the candidates. Meanwhile, his rival, Yanukovych, frequently appeared in the news, even accusing Yushchenko, whose father was a Red Army soldier imprisoned at Auschwitz, of being "a Nazi."

Dioxin poisoning

The campaign was often bitter, controversial, and violent. Yushchenko became seriously ill in early September 2004. He was flown to Vienna's Rudolfinerhaus clinic for treatment and diagnosed with "acute pancreatitis, accompanied by interstitial edematous changes", said to be due to "a serious viral infection and chemical substances which are not normally found in food products", which Yushchenko claimed to be the work of agents of the government. After the illness, his face became pale, heavily disfigured, bloated, and pockmarked(before and after pictures).

After seeing Mr. Yushchenko's deformed face on the evening news, the Dutch toxicologist Bram Brouwer contacted the Rudolfinerhaus to test some of Yushchenko's blood at the Free University of Amsterdam for dioxin. According to Dr Michael Zimpfer, president of the Rudolfinerhaus, these tests provided conclusive evidence that Yushchenko's condition resulted from "high concentrations of dioxin, most likely orally administered". This hypothesis had already been suggested by British toxicologist John Henry of St. Mary's Hospital in London, as the marks on Yushchenko's face are chloracne, a characteristic symptom of dioxin poisoning. Other scientists suggested that the illness might have been the result of rosacea but this theory failed to account for the severe internal medical problems suffered by Yushchenko. On December 11, Austrian doctors confirmed Yushchenko was poisoned with TCDD dioxin, and has more than 1,000 times (other sources say 6,000 times) the usual concentration in his body . This is the second highest dioxin level ever measured in a human. Yushchenko's chief of staff Oleg Ribachuk has suggested that the poison used was a mycotoxin called T-2, also known as "Yellow Rain", a Soviet-era substance which was reputedly used in Afghanistan as a chemical weapon.

Yushchenko has linked the poisoning to a dinner with a group of senior Ukrainian officials, including the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ihor Smeshko, on the evening before Yushchenko fell ill. This hypothesis is disputed by some toxicologists, who claim that symptoms of dioxin poisoning usually take 3-14 days to appear—John Henry, professor of accident and emergency medicine at St Mary's Hospital in London, said "a few months after swallowing" or other contact—and experiencing them a few hours after ingesting the poison would be unusual.

Unprecedented three rounds of voting

The initial vote, held on 31 October 2004, saw Yushchenko obtaining 39.87% in front of Yanukovych with 39.32%. As no candidate reached the 50% margin required for outright victory, a second round of run-off voting was held on 21 November 2004. Although a 75% voter turnout was recorded, observers reported many irregularities and abuses across the country, such as organized multiple voting and extra votes for Yanukovych after the polls closed. Exit poll results put Yushchenko ahead in the western and central provinces of the country.

The alleged electoral fraud, combined with the fact that the exit polls recorded a result (an 11% margin of victory for Yushchenko in one poll) so radically different from the final vote tally (a 3% margin of victory for Yanukovych), prompted Yushchenko and his supporters to refuse to recognize the results.

After thirteen days of massive popular protests in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, that became known as the Orange Revolution, the election results were overturned by the Supreme Court and a re-run of the run-off election was ordered for December 26. Yushchenko proclaimed a victory for the opposition and declared his confidence that he would be elected with at least 60% of the vote. He did win the third round, but with 51.99% of the vote.

President

Inauguration

• 1954 births
• Living people
• Ukrainian economists
• Ukrainian politicians
• Prime ministers of Ukraine
• Presidents of Ukraine
• Current national leaders
• Democracy activists