Coup leader, convicted drug trafficker, president: Desi Bouterse aims to extend long reign in Suriname

Suriname has voted in general elections with Desi Bouterse, its convicted drug-trafficker president, seeking to tighten his controversial grip on power.

Bouterse, who has ruled the small South American country on and off since 1980, is looking to end his alliance with one-time nemesis Ronnie Brunswijk and preside over the first non-coalition democratic government in Suriname's history.

Bouterse's National Democratic Party formed a government at the last elections in 2010 by forging a motley mega-coalition, returning him to power for the second time since his 1980-87 military government.

But after the coalition fell apart, the NDP decided to go it alone, buoyed by strong standings in opinion polls.

The party needs to win at least 26 seats in the 51-member National Assembly to govern alone, and 34 seats to re-elect Bouterse - the president is chosen by a two-thirds majority of parliament.

Bouterse, who has been a two-time coup leader, dictator and international fugitive, was expected to cast his ballot late in the day.

The Netherlands convicted him in absentia of cocaine smuggling in 1999 but he has remained free because Suriname does not extradite its citizens.

The smallest country in South America, Suriname was colonised by the British and Dutch and gained independence from the Netherlands in 1975.

Five years later, a group of sergeants led by Bouterse overthrew Prime Minister Henck Arron and installed a military government.

Whether in his dictator's fatigues and sunglasses or his sharp president's suit, Bouterse, 69, has loomed large over the country's politics ever since.

His regime put down two counter-coups and rounded up and executed 15 opponents in 1982, an event known as the "December killings".

Bouterse stepped down in 1987 but returned to power in 1990 in a second, bloodless coup.

After leaving power a second time, Bouterse was indicted and court-martialled for the December killings, but his coalition passed a controversial amnesty law in 2012 that aborted the trial.

Santokhi, a former police commissioner who once investigated the killings, has vowed to repeal the amnesty law if elected.

The president and his family have faced a host of other legal woes, adding to the country's reputation for drug running, money laundering and graft.

Earlier this year, a Dutch court rejected his third bid to have the drug conviction overturned.