akhmetov was elected as a member of ukraine's verkhovna rada (parliament) during the 2006 ukrainian parliamentary election as a member of the party of regions. akhmetov was reelected during the 2007 parliamentary election again as a member of the party of regions. however, he only appeared once in the verkhovna rada building during his inauguration. leader of the party's faction in the verkhovna rada, oleksander yefremov, has mentioned that rinat akhmetov provides "substantive support" to the faction by providing what he referred to as "functioning expert groups he established that are counseling on draft laws". in december 2011 akhmetov announced he was not going to participate in the 2012 parliamentary election.