Serhiy Ratushniak

Biography Ratushniak was born in Uzhhorod, Ukrainian SSR. He entered politics in 1994 after creating RIO, a syndicate of enterprises engaged in beverage sales, the production of cured meats and taxi service. Ratushniak was charged in 2000 with embezzlement, but released after the charges were dropped.

Ratushniak was elected Mayor of Uzhhorod in the 1994 mayoral elections with 70% of the vote. A criminal case was soon opened against Ratushniak, accusing him of hooliganism, abuse of office and the violation of racial and national equality of citizens; Ratushniak denied the claims. Following his nomination, Ratushniak told a local paper that the Jews were to blame for all his country's troubles. Ratushniak also stated that Americans should atone for killing native Americans before meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs. After the first round of the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election where Ratushniak gained only 0.12% of the votes,

In the 2010 mayoral elections, Ratushniak ended in second place.

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Ratushniak stood again as an independent candidate in the same single-member district as in 2012, but this time he placed fifth with 7.71% of the votes (winner Robert Horvat of Petro Poroshenko Bloc got 21.58%).

In the 2015 Uzhhorod mayoral elections Ratushniak failed to win as an independent candidate. Bohdan Andriyiv (of Revival) won the elections with 58.57% of the votes, while Ratushniak received 30.9% of the votes.

Ratushniak did not take part in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. He had intended to run again in constituency 68, but his candidature was not approved by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine "due to an unjustified long stay outside Ukraine." He finished third with 18% of the votes.