Nestor Shufrych

Nestor Ivanovych Shufrych ( uk, Не́стор Іва́нович Шу́фрич, born 29 December 1966) is a Ukrainian politician who has served in the Verkhovna Rada since 1998.

Early life and education

Shufrych was born on 29 December 1966 in Uzhorod, Ukrainian SSR, USSR. His paternal ancestors were ethnic Serbs.

Shufrych graduated from the Uzhhorod National University in 1992 with a diploma in history. In 2004, he wrote a thesis ""Development and Transformation of agrarian industry in Hungary" earning him an academical honors of a Candidate of Economical Sciences from the Institute of Agrarian Economics (Ukrainian Agrarian Academy of Sciences).

In 1985–87 Shufrych served in the Soviet military, afterwards he became an interpreter for a trade-revenue company in Uzhhorod. In 1989 Shufrych became an adviser of cooperative union "Retro" and commercial director of the Soviet-Austrian company "Tekop". Since 1991 Shufrych worked as a director for the Ukrainian-American company "West-Contrade", becoming its president in 1995.

Politics

In 1996 and through 2007, Shufrych was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) (SDPU(o)) which was headed by former President Leonid Kravchuk. In 2005, Shufrych became the First Deputy Leader of the party.

In 1998, Shufrych was elected from the 70th electoral district in Zakarpattia Oblast from SDPU(o), the 22nd on the party list. He gathered 16.8% out of 12 candidates with 70.8% of voting in the district. At the time of elections Shufrych was a director of "West-Contrade".
* 1998 – 2000 Parliamentary committee on economic policy, management of public economics, property, and investments
* 1998 Control commission on privatization
* 1998 Plenipotentiary representative of SDPU(o)
* 1999 National council on youth policy for the President of Ukraine (Leonid Kuchma)
* 2001 – 2002 Parliamentary committee on Budget

In 2002, Shufrych unsuccessfully ran as member of SDPU(o), finishing third out 20 candidates and gathering 9.2% of the vote. He was, however, elected to the Zakarpattia Oblast Council. In three months he successfully ran in the 201st electoral district in Cherkasy Oblast as a self-nominated candidate. Shufrych gathered 29.8% out of 18 other candidates. At the time of elections he was a president of the "Cherkasy meat company" and a member of SDPU(o).
* 2002 Parliamentary group of SDPU(o)
* 2003 Parliamentary committee on Budget

In 2006, Shufrych ran by a party list from the Opposition Bloc "Not So!", being listed the 4th from SDPU(o). The bloc lost its elections earning 1.01% nationwide, with a 3% parliamentary threshold. However, he managed to be elected to the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea from the bloc. As part of the 2006 Ukrainian political crisis, Shufrych was appointed as Head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine