Profile: Kurmanbek Bakiyev

When Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev took power in 2005, many hoped he would wipe out corruption and breathe life into the country's flagging economy.

President Bakiyev studied at a Russian university

He swept to power after leading a series of street protests - known as the Tulip Revolution - which forced his predecessor, Askar Akayev, into exile.

But his time in office has been characterised by political deadlock and spats with opposition parties in parliament.

His opponents accuse him of failing to sort out the Central Asian republic's problems and say he has become increasingly authoritarian.

And 2007 has seen several large-scale street protests against him in the capital, Bishkek.

He responded by holding a referendum on a new constitution, which he said would give more power to parliament.

The vote gave overwhelming support to his plans - although there were claims of ballot box stuffing.

Mr Bakiyev installed the new constitution, dissolved parliament and called a snap election - announcing that he had formed his own party to contest the polls, Ak Zhol.

His opponents accuse him of trying to grab power, but his supporters say he is trying to install democracy by forcing MPs who were elected before 2005 to run again under a fairer system.

Engineer training

In the past, Mr Bakiyev has drawn most of his popular support from his native southern Kyrgyzstan - where the 2005 protests began.

He was born in the village of Masadan - subsequently renamed Teyyit - in the Suzak district of the province of Jalalabad on 1 August 1949.

He studied in the Polytechnic Institute of the Russian town of Kuybyshev, where he met his Russian wife, Tatyana Vasilyevna Bakiyeva.

Kurmanbek Bakiyev trained as an electrical engineer, and began his career as an engineer at the Maslennikov plant in Kuybyshev, before joining the Soviet Army.

He returned to Jalalabad with his family in 1979, where he worked in a local plant.

His political career began in 1990, when he was elected as first secretary in the town council of Kok-Yangak, in Jalalabad.

In 1992 he was promoted to become governor of Jalalabad, and in 1997 he was appointed as governor of the north-eastern Issyk-Kul region.

In 2001 he served as prime minister, but was forced to resign after a bloody crackdown on an opposition rally in south-western Aksy District in March 2002, in which five demonstrators died.