Toktayum Umetalieva () (born 4 April 1962) is a Kyrgyzstani physicist, political coordinator and activist. She was the only female candidate for the 2005 and 2009 Kyrgyzstani presidential elections.

Biography

Born in the village of Leninpol in Talas District, she graduated from Kyrgyz State National University with a degree in physics in 1984. She worked a lecturer and became a director for an industrial and commercial company. In 1997, she was appointed chief editor of the newspaper Ай-Данек, and she has published several papers on science and politics. She has sat on numerous advisory councils in her native country for Jogorku Kenesh and has led the political party known as "Long Live Kyrgyzstan" ("Жашасын Кыргызстан").

Toktayum Umetalieva

She heads the Association of Nongovernmental and Noncommercial Organizations and was running as an independent.

Toktayum Umetalieva

Umetalieva been employed as a national coordinator for UNICEF and is associated with the World Bank. Between 2000 and 2010 she was the chair of Kyrgyzstan’s Association of Nongovernmental and Noncommercial Organizations. She stood as a presidential candidate for the 2009 elections to raise awareness of women's rights issues. In 2011 she advocated the dismantling of the statue of Erkindik on Ala-Too Square in Bishkek.

Toktayum Umetalieva

She is married and has three daughters: Mirgul, Nazgul, and Burulayim.

References

Kyrgyzstani physicists

Krygyzstani women physicists

1962 births

Living people

People from Talas Region

20th-century physicists

20th-century women scientists

21st-century physicists

21st-century women scientists

20th-century Kyrgyzstani women

20th-century Kyrgyzstani educators

21st-century Kyrgyzstani women politicians

21st-century Kyrgyzstani politicians

Kyrgyz National University alumni