The head of state is the President, elected in a general election. The current head of state is Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan from 1981-1991, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet  of the Kazakhstan SSR in 1990-1991, and who became the Kazakhstan President in 1991, a post where he remains to this day.  The bicameral parliament, which consists of the Senate and Majlis, holds legislative power.