Party leader of late Soviet Kyrgyzstan
In the 1990 presidential selection, the legislature chose Askar Akayev over Masaliyev as the republic's first president.
Absamat Masaliyev was a Kyrgyz Soviet politician who rose from mining engineering to lead the Communist Party of Kirghizia. He directed the republic's party and state institutions amid late-Soviet political opening and ethnic conflict, seeking to preserve the existing socialist order. After losing the 1990 presidential selection to Askar Akayev, he continued in communist politics and parliamentary work.
Career Timeline
- 1956–1961Engineering posts at Kyzyl-Kyya coal mines and Kyrgyzugol
- 1961–1973Industrial and transport posts in Osh regional and republican party bodies
- 1973–1974Chairman of the Frunze City Executive Committee
- 1974–1979Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kirghizia
- 1979–1985First Secretary of the Issyk-Kul Regional Party Committee
- 1985–1991First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kirghizia
- 1990Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz SSR
- 1991Consultant to the ideological department of the CPSU Central Committee