Roza Otunbayeva was a potential leader of the Kyrgyz opposition. In 1981, she was the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan's second secretary of the Lenin "raikom" (district council). Leading up to 2005, Otunbayeva's political beliefs had slowly westernised. Following the 2005 revolution, Otunbayeva served in the interim government as acting foreign minister and ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom.
