Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych

Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych , 1950-, Ukrainian politician. The graduate of a mining college and a polytechnic institute (1980), he was a mechanical engineer and member of the Soviet Communist party, and became manager of a transportation company. After Ukrainian independence (1991), he was named (1997) governor of the Donetsk region, and in 2002 was appointed prime minister by President Leonid Kuchma . Yanukovych increased both state control of the economy and social spending. Two years later, as leader of the pro-Russia Party of Regions, he was Kuchma's chosen candidate for president, running against opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko . Although Yushchenko led after the first round, Yanukovych was proclaimed the winner after the Nov., 2004, runoff. Yushchenko's supporters poured into the streets of Kiev to protest the results, launching Ukraine's "Orange Revolution." The supreme court eventually nullified the vote, and the runoff was reheld in December, when Yanukovych lost. In 2006, however, he reemerged as a powerful and skillful opponent to Yushchenko when he forged a majority coalition in the wake of parliamentary elections and became prime minister. New elections in 2007, however, gave a narrow majority to the remaining "Orange coalition" parties, and Yanukovych and his party went into the opposition.