List of current longest ruling non-royal national leaders

This list of current longest ruling non-royal national leaders is a list of the current longest ruling heads of nation-states or national governments, who are not royalty, and have served ten years or longer, sorted by length of tenure.

The individuals on the list are not always the most powerful figure in their country's national government. Some are or have been at one time but not necessarily continuously throughout the listed timespan. Some of them have held more than one national leadership level office: presidency, prime minister-ship, or some other title implying or widely believed to confer national leadership. When more than one such office exists in a country, there may be uncertainty as to which member of the national government actually has the ultimate power. Therefore this list combines all national level offices held concurrently or consecutively by each individual leader.

Rank Name Country Office Tenure Began Length of Tenure
1. Paul Biya  Cameroon Prime Minister, then President 30 June 1975 40 years, 303 days
2. Mohamed Abdelaziz  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic General Secretary and President 30 August 1976 39 years, 242 days
3. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo  Equatorial Guinea President[1] 3 August 1979 36 years, 269 days
4. José Eduardo dos Santos  Angola President 10 September 1979 36 years, 231 days
5. Robert Mugabe  Zimbabwe Prime Minister, then President 18 April 1980 36 years, 10 days
6. Ali Khamenei  Iran President, then Supreme Leader 13 October 1981 34 years, 198 days
7. Hun Sen  Cambodia Prime Minister[2] 14 January 1985 31 years, 105 days
8. Yoweri Museveni  Uganda President 29 January 1986 30 years, 90 days
9. Nursultan Nazarbayev  Kazakhstan First Secretary, then President 22 June 1989 26 years, 311 days
10. Islam Karimov  Uzbekistan First Secretary, then President 23 June 1989 26 years, 310 days
11. Omar al-Bashir  Sudan President[3] 30 June 1989 26 years, 303 days
12. Idriss Déby  Chad President[4] 2 December 1990 25 years, 148 days
13. Isaias Afwerki  Eritrea President[5] 27 April 1991 25 years, 1 day
14. Emomali Rahmon  Tajikistan President[6] 19 November 1992 23 years, 161 days
15. Alexander Lukashenko  Belarus President 20 July 1994 21 years, 283 days
16. Yahya Jammeh  The Gambia President[7] 22 July 1994 21 years, 281 days
17. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson  Iceland President 1 August 1996 19 years, 271 days
18. Denis Sassou Nguesso  Republic of the Congo President[8] 25 October 1997 18 years, 186 days
19. Kim Yong-nam  North Korea President of the Presidium of the
Supreme People's Assembly[9]
5 September 1998 17 years, 236 days
20. Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi  Samoa Prime Minister 23 November 1998 17 years, 157 days
21. Abdelaziz Bouteflika  Algeria President 27 April 1999 17 years, 1 day
22. Ismaïl Omar Guelleh  Djibouti President 8 May 1999 16 years, 356 days
23. Vladimir Putin  Russia President[10] 9 August 1999 16 years, 263 days
24. Paul Kagame  Rwanda President 24 March 2000 16 years, 35 days
25. Bashar al-Assad  Syria President 17 July 2000 15 years, 286 days
26. Joseph Kabila  Democratic Republic of the Congo President 17 January 2001 15 years, 102 days
27. Ralph Gonsalves  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister 29 March 2001 15 years, 30 days
28. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  Turkey Prime Minister, then President 14 March 2003 13 years, 45 days
30. Filip Vujanović  Montenegro President[11] 22 May 2003 12 years, 342 days
30. Ilham Aliyev  Azerbaijan Prime Minister, then President[12] 4 August 2003 12 years, 268 days
31. Artur Rasizade  Azerbaijan Prime Minister[13] 6 August 2003 12 years, 266 days
32. Abdelkader Taleb Omar  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Prime Minister 29 October 2003 12 years, 182 days
33. Shavkat Mirziyoyev  Uzbekistan Prime Minister 11 December 2003 12 years, 139 days
34. Roosevelt Skerrit  Dominica Prime Minister 8 January 2004 12 years, 111 days
35. James Michel  Seychelles President 14 April 2004 12 years, 14 days
36. Heinz Fischer  Austria Federal President 8 July 2004 11 years, 295 days
37. Lee Hsien Loong  Singapore Prime Minister 12 August 2004 11 years, 260 days
38. Mahmoud Abbas  Palestine President[14] 15 January 2005 11 years, 104 days
39. Faure Gnassingbé  Togo President[15] 4 May 2005 10 years, 360 days
40. Salva Kiir Mayardit  South Sudan President[16] 30 July 2005 10 years, 273 days
41. Pierre Nkurunziza  Burundi President 26 August 2005 10 years, 246 days
42. Angela Merkel  Germany Federal Chancellor 22 November 2005 10 years, 158 days
43. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf  Liberia President 16 January 2006 10 years, 103 days
44. Evo Morales  Bolivia President 22 January 2006 10 years, 97 days

Footnotes

  1. was Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council / Supreme Military Council of Equatorial Guinea from August 3, 1979 to October 12, 1982
  2. Was Prime Minister of the Vietnam-occupation one-Party state called the People's Republic of Kampuchea from January 14, 1985 to May 1, 1989. Was also Prime Minister during the entire existence of the State of Cambodia from May 1, 1989 to September 24, 1993.
  3. was Chairman of the Sudanese Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation from June 30, 1989 to October 16, 1993
  4. was President of the Council of State of Chad from December 2, 1990 to March 4, 1991
  5. Was Secretary-General of the Provisional Government of Eritrea from April 27, 1991 to May 24, 1993, when Eritrea declared independence from Ethiopia.
  6. was Chairman of the Supreme Assembly (Speaker of Parliament) of Tajikistan – de facto head of state – from November 19, 1992 to November 16, 1994
  7. was Chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council of the Gambia from July 22, 1994 to September 28, 1996
  8. was previously President of the Central Committee of the Congolese Party of Labour from February 8, 1979 to August 31, 1992, when the country was a one-Party state known as the People's Republic of the Congo
  9. The "President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly" performs some of the duties of a head of state. The position of President (formerly the head of state) was written out of the constitution in 1998. State founder Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994, was given the appellation "Eternal President".
  10. Was Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation from August 16, 1999 to May 7, 2000 and Acting President from December 31, 1999 to May 7, 2000; then President of Russia from May 7, 2000 to May 7, 2008; then Chairman of the Government again from May 8, 2008 to May 7, 2012.
  11. Montenegro did not gain independence until June 3, 2006, being part of Serbia and Montenegro. Vujanović was previously Acting President from November 25, 2002 to May 19, 2003.
  12. was Acting President of Azerbaijan from August 6, 2003 to October 31, 2003
  13. Was previously Prime Minister of Azerbaijan from July 20, 1996 to August 4, 2003; and Interim Prime Minister from August 6, 2003 to November 4, 2003.
  14. was previously Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority from March 19, 2003 to September 6, 2003
  15. Was previously President of Togo from February 5, 2005 to February 25, 2005, when it was disputed whether he had inherited the presidency from his deceased father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma.
  16. South Sudan did not gain independence until July 9, 2011, being part of Sudan. Was Acting President of the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region from July 30, 2005 to August 11, 2005.

See also

External links

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