Cholpon Sultanbekova

Sultanbekova was born on 19 August 1969 in Bishkek (then Frunze). She attended the Michurinksy Pedagogical Institute in Russia and graduated in law and international relations from the Kyrgyz State Academy of Law in 2006.

Sultanbekova worked at the registry office in Jalal-Abad before becoming Director General of Palvan in Osh in 1995. She was President of the Congress of Women of the Kyrgyz Republic in the Southern Region from 2000 until 2001 and in 2005 she founded the NGO Eco-Harmony of Women.

Sultanbekova is a member of the Respublika Party of Kyrgyzstan. After her husband's assassination in 2005, she ran for his parliamentary seat representing the Kadamjay District in a 2006 by-election but was defeated. In 2007, she was elected President of the Alysh foundation, the "belt wrestling" organization her husband had been associated with.

Sultanbekova was elected as a member of the Jogorku Kenesh in 2010. She became a member of the Committee on Education, Science, Culture and Sport and chair of the Committee of Youth Policy in 2012. In October 2013, she was elected Deputy Speaker of the parliament. From 25 January 2015 until 22 January 2017 she was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

On 9 November 2016, the parliament approved her nomination as Deputy Prime Minister for social affairs under Prime Minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov, replacing Gulmira Kudaiberdieva.

• Certificate of Honour of the Kyrgyz Republic, FILA Order

Sultanbekova was married to Bayaman Erkinbaev, who has been described as the "first Kyrgyz drug lord". He had nearly 40 criminal cases raised against him but none were concluded. He was elected to parliament in 2005 with 95.45% of the vote but was shot at his home on 21 September 2005. Sultanbekova and Erkinbaev's four sisters inherited his businesses, and in 2009, the Kyrgyz-language newspaper Agym included her on its list of the richest women in Kyrgyzstan. She has two children.