Eduard Zeinalov

Zeinalov was born on 21 July 1963 in the village of Oleksandriia, which was then part of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union.^[1] After graduating from the Odesa Maritime Academy in 1985 with a specialty as a technician-operator, he started working as a sailor for the Ooleksandriia Rescue Station.^[1] He then became an operator at the Kirovohrad oil transshipment base, and was then Head of the Department of Planning for the Kirovohrad Oblast Directorate of Derzhkomnaftoprodukt in the Ukrainian SSR.^[1] Afterwords, he became head of external economic relationns at Kirovohradholovpostach, eventually rising to the rank of First Deputy Head of the Board there.^[1] His final positions before transitioning into politics was being General Director of Interresursy and CJSC RUR Group S.A., and he also graduated from the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management.^[1]

In February 2004, he was appointed Governor of Kirovohrad Oblast, which he did for two years until 2006.^[1] After his departure from the post, he was elected a People's Deputy of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada during the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election as a member of the Our Ukraine bloc.^[1] He resigned early on 8 June 2007 during the 2007 Ukrainian political crisis, alongside many Our Ukraine deputies, but was re-elected to be a People's Deputy again during the snap 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election.^[1]