[6] Yekhanurov was born in the village Belkachi in the far-north Yakut ASSR, which is currently the Sakha Republic within the Russian Federation.

When Ukraine gained independence in 1991, Yekhanurov started working for the Kyiv municipal government, overseeing economic reforms.

After the ousting of the government in 2001, Yekhanurov joined Yushchenko's People's Union Our Ukraine and was elected again a member of parliament.

After the Orange Revolution in 2005, Yekhanurov was appointed Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration (i.e. a governor) on April 1, 2005.

Yekhanurov's candidacy was hotly contested in parliament, most notably by former prime minister and Yushchenko's ally Yulia Tymoshenko.

Like Yushchenko, he is a supporter of economic liberalization and privatisation, but opposed "reprivatization" of previously sold companies that were thought to have been privatized illegally under the administration of President Leonid Kuchma.

But President Yuschenko "quickly dismissed the vote as a publicity stunt by the opposition"[14] Yekhanurov continued to perform his duties until the newly elected Verkhovna Rada convened and formed a majority in July.

[19] on May 26, 2009, President Yushchenko stated he had no intend to dismiss Yekhanurov claiming “there is nothing but a political attack and a staff war”.

[20] According to Yushchenko similar political attacks had been launched against the foreign minister, State Property Fund head, and the National Bank of Ukraine governor.

[21] The same day Yekhanurov threatened to sue Prime Minister Tymoshenko "to defend his honor and dignity", if she did not apologize, and if Supervision and Revision Department head Mykola Syvulskiy did not resign.