Sri Lankan Prime Minister and the ruling party's presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse was one of front runners among 13 candidates who are in the presidential poll on Nov. 17.

Born in 1945 in the rural hinterland of Giriwapattuwa in the deep south Hambantoda district, Rajapakse was the youngest member of parliament in the 1970 parliament.

When he was a lawyer, he was very much a darling of the working class and he has been in the forefront of many a struggle to safeguard workers' rights.

In 1992, as an opposition MP he led a 182-km protest walk from the capital Colombo to the deep south Kataragama.

He was jailed on what he claimed on a murder charges, forcing him to miss his mother's funeral in 1984.

Years of long struggle in the opposition culminated in 1994 when he was appointed the Minister of Labor. Later he was made the Minister of Fisheries, and the Minister of Ports.

In 2002 he became the leader of the opposition and in April 2004 became the country's Prime Minister.

A man ever ready with his flashing smile, Rajapakse is married to Shiranthi, a former Sri Lankan beauty queen. He is the father to three teenaged sons.

Source: Xinhua