Toktayum Umetalieva ( Kyrgyz: Токтайым Уметалиева) (born 4 April 1962 in Leninpol) is a Kyrgyzstani physicist, political coordinator and activist. She was the only female candidate for the 2005 and 2009 Kyrgyz presidential elections. ^[1]

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, ^[2] and she has published several papers on science and politics. ^[1] She has sat on numerous advisory councils in her native country for Supreme Council and has led the political party known as "Long Live Kyrgyzstan" ("Жашасын Кыргызстан"). ^[2]

She heads the Association of Nongovernmental and Noncommercial Organizations and was running as an independent. ^[3]

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. ^[2] In 2011 she advocated the dismantling of the statue of Erkindik on Ala-Too Square in Bishkek. ^[1]

She is married and has three daughters: Mirgul, Nazgul, and Burulayim. ^[1]

References