Yuriy Boyko participant in 2019 Ukrainian presidential election
Yuriy Anatoliyovych Boyko (Ukrainian: Юрій Анатолійович Бойко, Russian: Ю́рий Анато́льевич Бо́йко; born 9 October 1958) is a Ukrainian politician who served as one of the Vice Prime Ministers of Ukraine between 2012 and 2014, as well as the Minister of Energy from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2010 to 2012. Other than during stint as Vice Prime Minister, he has continuously served as a Member of the Verkhovna Rada since 2007. Boyko ran for President in the March 2019 election, winning many districts in the southeast of the country but ultimately coming fourth and narrowly missing qualification for the second round.  
Designated a Hero of Ukraine in 2004, Boyko is considered to be one of the primary proponents of closer relations with Russia in Ukrainian politics. Boyko was a leading figure of the now-banned Opposition Platform — For Life, which he led to second place in the July 2019 parliamentary election, and currently heads its successor, the Platform for Life and Peace. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he opposed, he reversed some of his pro-Russian stances, now supporting Ukraine's proposed accession to the European Union and backing President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People party in Parliament. Prior to his political career, he was an expert on oil and gas policy.Career after vice premiership
On 29 March 2014, a Party of Regions convention decided to support Boyko's political opponent Mykhailo Dobkin as a candidate for the presidential election, and on 7 April 2014, the party's political council expelled Boyko amidst infighting. Boyko launched a last-minute presidential campaign himself to oppose Dodkin, receiving less than a percentage point of the electorate.In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election he was again re-elected into parliament; this time heading the electoral list of Opposition Bloc.On 9 November 2018, Boyko and the party For life signed an agreement for cooperation in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and the parliamentary election of the same year called Opposition Platform-For life. The same day Opposition Bloc leading members Vadym Novynskyi and Borys Kolesnikov claimed the agreement was a "personal initiative" of Boyko and that Opposition Bloc had not taken any decisions on cooperation with For life. On 17 November 2018 Opposition Platform-For life nominated Boyko as its candidate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election. Boyko was excluded from the Opposition Bloc faction (the reason given was) "because they betrayed their voters" interests on 20 November 2018. Boyko's official nomination by Opposition Platform-For life was announced on 17 November. Because Opposition Platform-For life was not yet registered as a party in January 2019 it could not nominate him as a presidential candidate. Hence on 17 January 2019 Boyko submitted documents to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine for registration as a self-nominated candidate. In the election Boyko took fourth place with 11.67% of the total vote, just over 4% behind incumbent Petro Poroshenko, who therefore instead of Boyko progressed to the second round along with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the parliamentary election a few months later, Boyko led his Opposition Platform — For Life party to second place with 13.05% of the vote, becoming the main opposition party. 
His party was banned by the government following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine for its pro-Russian stances, despite it having opposed the invasion itself.
Boyko reversed a number of his pro-Russian stances following the ban on his party, and later formed a new parliamentary group made up of former OPZZh members called Platform for Life and Peace, now backing the Servant of the People-government in parliament, alongside the other party made up of formerly pro-Russian politicians, Restoration of Ukraine.
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