List of current longest ruling non-royal national leaders

List of current longest ruling non-royal national leaders

This list of current longest ruling non-royal national leaders is a list of the 50 current longest ruling heads of nation-states or national governments, who are not royalty, sorted by length of tenure.

The individuals on the list were not necessarily the most powerful figure in their country's national government throughout the listed timespan. Some of them have held more than one national leadership level office: presidency, prime ministership, 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 greatest power. This list combines all national leader level offices held concurrently or consecutively by each individual.

Rank Name Country Office Tenure Began Length of Tenure
1. Paul Biya  Cameroon Prime Minister, then President 30 June 1975 39 years, 17 days
2. Mohamed Abdelaziz  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic General Secretary and President 30 August 1976 37 years, 321 days
3. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo  Equatorial Guinea President[1] 3 August 1979 34 years, 348 days
4. José Eduardo dos Santos  Angola President 10 September 1979 34 years, 310 days
5. Robert Mugabe  Zimbabwe Prime Minister, then President 18 April 1980 34 years, 90 days
6. Ali Khamenei  Iran President, then Supreme Leader 13 October 1981 32 years, 277 days
7. Hun Sen  Cambodia Prime Minister[2] 14 January 1985 29 years, 184 days
8. Yoweri Museveni  Uganda President 29 January 1986 28 years, 169 days
9. Blaise Compaoré  Burkina Faso President[3] 15 October 1987 26 years, 275 days
10. Nursultan Nazarbayev  Kazakhstan First Secretary, then President 22 June 1989 25 years, 25 days
11. Islam Karimov  Uzbekistan First Secretary, then President 23 June 1989 25 years, 24 days
12. Omar al-Bashir  Sudan President[4] 30 June 1989 25 years, 17 days
13. Idriss Déby  Chad President[5] 2 December 1990 23 years, 227 days
14. Isaias Afewerki  Eritrea President[6] 27 April 1991 23 years, 81 days
15. Emomalii Rahmon  Tajikistan President[7] 19 November 1992 21 years, 240 days
16. Alexander Lukashenko  Belarus President 20 July 1994 19 years, 362 days
17. Yahya Jammeh  The Gambia President[8] 22 July 1994 19 years, 360 days
18. Jean-Claude Juncker  Luxembourg Prime Minister 20 January 1995 19 years, 178 days
19. Denzil Douglas  Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister 7 July 1995 19 years, 10 days
20. Ólafur Ragnar Grimsson  Iceland President 1 August 1996 17 years, 350 days
21. Denis Sassou Nguesso  Republic of the Congo President[9] 25 October 1997 16 years, 265 days
22. Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi  Samoa Prime Minister 23 November 1998 15 years, 236 days
23. Abdelaziz Bouteflika  Algeria President 27 April 1999 15 years, 81 days
24. Ismaïl Omar Guelleh  Djibouti President 8 May 1999 15 years, 70 days
25. Vladimir Putin  Russia President[10] 9 August 1999 14 years, 342 days
26. Sam Hinds  Guyana Prime Minister[11] 11 August 1999 14 years, 340 days
27. Oqil Oqilov  Tajikistan Prime Minister 20 December 1999 14 years, 209 days
28. Paul Kagame  Rwanda President 24 March 2000 14 years, 115 days
29. Bashar al-Assad  Syria President 17 July 2000 14 years, 0 days
30. Joseph Kabila  Democratic Republic of the Congo President 17 January 2001 13 years, 181 days
31. José Maria Neves  Cape Verde Prime Minister 1 February 2001 13 years, 166 days
32. Ralph Gonsalves  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister 29 March 2001 13 years, 110 days
33. Hamid Karzai  Afghanistan President[12] 22 December 2001 12 years, 207 days
34. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  Turkey Prime Minister 14 March 2003 11 years, 125 days
35. Filip Vujanović  Montenegro President[13] 22 May 2003 11 years, 56 days
36. Anote Tong  Kiribati President 10 July 2003 11 years, 7 days
37. Ilham Aliyev  Azerbaijan Prime Minister, then President[14] 4 August 2003 10 years, 347 days
38. Artur Rasizade  Azerbaijan Prime Minister[15] 6 August 2003 10 years, 345 days
39. Abdelkader Taleb Omar  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Prime Minister 29 October 2003 10 years, 261 days
40. Shavkat Mirziyoyev  Uzbekistan Prime Minister 11 December 2003 10 years, 218 days
41. Roosevelt Skerrit  Dominica Prime Minister 8 January 2004 10 years, 190 days
42. Baldwin Spencer  Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister 24 March 2004 10 years, 115 days
43. Mahinda Rajapaksa  Sri Lanka Prime Minister, then President[16] 6 April 2004 10 years, 102 days
44. James Michel  Seychelles President 14 April 2004 10 years, 94 days
45. Manmohan Singh  India Prime Minister 22 May 2004 10 years, 56 days
46. Ivan Gašparovič  Slovakia President[17] 15 June 2004 10 years, 32 days
47. Heinz Fischer  Austria President 8 July 2004 10 years, 9 days
48. Lee Hsien Loong  Singapore Prime Minister 12 August 2004 9 years, 339 days
49. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono  Indonesia President 20 October 2004 9 years, 270 days
50. Traian Băsescu  Romania President[18] 20 December 2004 9 years, 209 days

Footnotes

See also

External links

  • Rulers.org List of rulers throughout time and places