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
- ↑ was Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council / Supreme Military Council of Equatorial Guinea from August 3, 1979 to October 12, 1982
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ was Chairman of the Sudanese Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation from June 30, 1989 to October 16, 1993
- ↑ was President of the Council of State of Chad from December 2, 1990 to March 4, 1991
- ↑ Was Secretary-General of the Provisional Government of Eritrea from April 27, 1991 to May 24, 1993, when Eritrea declared independence from Ethiopia.
- ↑ was Chairman of the Supreme Assembly (Speaker of Parliament) of Tajikistan – de facto head of state – from November 19, 1992 to November 16, 1994
- ↑ was Chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council of the Gambia from July 22, 1994 to September 28, 1996
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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".
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ was Acting President of Azerbaijan from August 6, 2003 to October 31, 2003
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ was previously Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority from March 19, 2003 to September 6, 2003
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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
- Current reigning monarchs by length of reign
- List of current state leaders by date of assumption of office
- List of longest-ruling non-royal national leaders since 1900
- List of the oldest living state leaders
External links
- Rulers.org List of rulers throughout time and places