Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko (Ukrainian: ) (born February 23 1954) is the third and current President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005.
As an informal leader of the Ukrainian opposition coalition, he was one of three main candidates in the October-November 2004 Ukrainian presidential election. Yushchenko won the election through a revote of the runoff between him and Viktor Yanukovych, the government supported candidate. The Ukrainian Supreme Court called for the revote due to widespread election fraud in favor of Viktor Yanukovych in the original run-off. The court determined that Yushchenko had won (52% to 44%). Public protests prompted by the electoral fraud played a major role in that presidential election and led to Ukraine's Orange Revolution.
