Yulia Tymoshenko is the former Prime Minister of Ukraine and a possible candidate for the 2010 Ukraine presidential election.
Tymoshenko became the first female Prime Minister in January 2005. Subsequent to her election, she was a key leader of Ukraine's Orange Revolution. The Orange revolution erupted in response to
allegations of corruption and electoral fraud of the 2004 Ukraine presidential election. After nation-wide protest and proof of tampering, Ukraine's Supreme Court annulled votes from November 2004. The revote on December 26, 2004 had entirely different results than the earlier election.
In 1979 Tymoshenko began her studies in cybernetic engineering at Dnepropetrovsk State University. Cybernetics is an interdisciplinary study of living and inanimate systems to increase efficiency of operation through communication and control. She graduated with honors in 1984.
In 1988 Tymoshenko and her husband opened a video rental store. It prospered and within a year they owned a chain of video stores.
In 1991 she was managing director of the Ukranian Oil Corporation (UOC). In 1995 the company was renamed United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) and Tymoshenko was made president. While serving as president of UESU, Ukraine's multi-billion debt to Russia, for natural gas, became fully liquidated.
Despite the success and strength of UESU's business structure and operations, the company was under continued scrutiny and control by the Ukrainian government. After UESU was fined $300 million for
currency legislation infringement, Tymoshenko decided to become a politician. She became inspired to fight for changes in government policy. She is a proponent of fair privitization and the independence of business from government control.
Her political career started in 1996 with a 92.3% win of votes for the parliamentary election. She went on to work as a deputy of the Parliament. While there, she implemented new and revised economic strategies and social programs that served to the benefit of Ukraine's general population.
One such program, the "100 weeks to the proper life" program, instructed Ukraine citizens on how to budget their finances.
In 1999 Tymoshenko became the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union "Batkivschina" or "Fatherland" party. Also in 1999, she finished her graduate thesis and received her PhD in economics.
From December 1999 until January 2001 she served as vice-premier minister in charge of Ukraine's fuel and energy resources.
Tymoshenko has had to fight corruption and government harrassment. Her husband was unlawfully arrested in 2000 and she was arrested in 2001 on charges later ruled as unsubstantiated. She left her position as Prime Minister in September 2005 while under such pressures.
In July 2005 Forbes magazine named Tymoshenko the third Most Powerful Woman in the World. She is third behind Condoleeza Rice and Wu Yi.
Tymoshenko married Oleksandr Tymoshenko in 1979. The couple has one child, Eugenia (1980). | 
