Maldives president Abdulla Yameen is a ruthless political operator who has cracked down on threats to his rule, say diplomats and former colleagues - including jailing his own half-brother in an on-off feud dating from childhood, according to Reuters.
The Maldives, a luxury holiday destination and a key nation in India and China’s battle for regional influence, goes to the polls on Sunday.
Yameen, who took power in 2013, is seeking a second five-year term in an election criticized for a lack of freedom.
He has jailed critics, reined in the media, and purged dissenting voices from institutions such as the Supreme Court after a political crisis in February.
Born in 1959, Yameen started work as a clerk in the finance department in 1978, the same year his half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom took power, ruling until 2008.
In the early days, Yameen commuted to work on a bicycle - then a perk on an isolated archipelago with few cars.
He went on to work at the Maldives Monetary Authority and the ministry of trade, where he became minister under Gayoom in 1993.
But a series of cables written in between 2003 and 2008 by the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka spoke of rifts between the two men, exacerbated by Yameen’s own political ambitions.
The cables also said Gayoom was committed to introducing democratic reforms but was being held back by “hardliners” like Yameen, “who realize they would lose everything if Gayoom lost power and thus were fighting the reform process tooth and nail”.