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, 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, 304 days
2. Mohamed Abdelaziz  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic General Secretary and President 30 August 1976 38 years, 243 days
3. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo  Equatorial Guinea President[1] 3 August 1979 35 years, 270 days
4. José Eduardo dos Santos  Angola President 10 September 1979 35 years, 232 days
5. Robert Mugabe  Zimbabwe Prime Minister, then President 18 April 1980 35 years, 12 days
6. Ali Khamenei  Iran President, then Supreme Leader 13 October 1981 33 years, 199 days
7. Hun Sen  Cambodia Prime Minister[2] 14 January 1985 30 years, 106 days
8. Yoweri Museveni  Uganda President 29 January 1986 29 years, 91 days
9. Nursultan Nazarbayev  Kazakhstan First Secretary, then President 22 June 1989 25 years, 312 days
10. Islam Karimov  Uzbekistan First Secretary, then President 23 June 1989 25 years, 311 days
11. Omar al-Bashir  Sudan President[3] 30 June 1989 25 years, 304 days
12. Idriss Déby  Chad President[4] 2 December 1990 24 years, 149 days
13. Isaias Afwerki  Eritrea President[5] 27 April 1991 24 years, 3 days
14. Emomali Rahmon  Tajikistan President[6] 19 November 1992 22 years, 162 days
15. Alexander Lukashenko  Belarus President 20 July 1994 20 years, 284 days
16. Yahya Jammeh  The Gambia President[7] 22 July 1994 20 years, 282 days
17. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson  Iceland President 1 August 1996 18 years, 272 days
18. Denis Sassou Nguesso  Republic of the Congo President[8] 25 October 1997 17 years, 187 days
19. Kim Yong-nam  North Korea Chairman of the Presidium
of the Supreme People's Assembly[9]		 5 September 1998 16 years, 237 days
20. Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi  Samoa Prime Minister 23 November 1998 16 years, 158 days
21. Abdelaziz Bouteflika  Algeria President 27 April 1999 16 years, 3 days
22. Ismaïl Omar Guelleh  Djibouti President 8 May 1999 15 years, 357 days
23. Vladimir Putin  Russia President[10] 9 August 1999 15 years, 264 days
24. Sam Hinds  Guyana Prime Minister[11] 11 August 1999 15 years, 262 days
25. Paul Kagame  Rwanda President 24 March 2000 15 years, 37 days
26. Bashar al-Assad  Syria President 17 July 2000 14 years, 287 days
27. Joseph Kabila  Democratic Republic of the Congo President 17 January 2001 14 years, 103 days
28. José Maria Neves  Cabo Verde Prime Minister 1 February 2001 14 years, 88 days
29. Ralph Gonsalves  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister 29 March 2001 14 years, 32 days
30. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  Turkey Prime Minister, then President 14 March 2003 12 years, 47 days
31. Filip Vujanović  Montenegro President[12] 22 May 2003 11 years, 343 days
32. Anote Tong  Kiribati President 10 July 2003 11 years, 294 days
33. Ilham Aliyev  Azerbaijan Prime Minister, then President[13] 4 August 2003 11 years, 269 days
34. Artur Rasizade  Azerbaijan Prime Minister[14] 6 August 2003 11 years, 267 days
35. Abdelkader Taleb Omar  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Prime Minister 29 October 2003 11 years, 183 days
36. Shavkat Mirziyoyev  Uzbekistan Prime Minister 11 December 2003 11 years, 140 days
37. Roosevelt Skerrit  Dominica Prime Minister 8 January 2004 11 years, 112 days
38. James Michel  Seychelles President 14 April 2004 11 years, 16 days
39. Heinz Fischer  Austria President 8 July 2004 10 years, 296 days
40. Lee Hsien Loong  Singapore Prime Minister 12 August 2004 10 years, 261 days
41. Mahmoud Abbas  Palestine President[15] 15 January 2005 10 years, 105 days
42. Faure Gnassingbé  Togo President[16] 4 May 2005 9 years, 361 days
43. Salva Kiir Mayardit  South Sudan President[17] 11 August 2005 9 years, 262 days
44. Pierre Nkurunziza  Burundi President 26 August 2005 9 years, 247 days
45. Angela Merkel  Germany Chancellor 22 November 2005 9 years, 159 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 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. ↑ Kim Yong-nam is the "Head of State for Foreign Affairs". The position of president (formerly head of state) was written out of the constitution in 1998. Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994, was given the appellation "Eternal President" in its preamble.
  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. ↑ Was Prime Minister of Guyana from October 9, 1992 to March 17, 1997 and December 22, 1997 to August 9, 1999; and Interim President from March 6, 1997 to December 19, 1997.
  12. ↑ President of Montenegro since May 22, 2003, but the country only became independent on June 3, 2006. He was previously Acting President from November 25, 2002 to May 19, 2003.
  13. ↑ was Acting President of Azerbaijan from August 6, 2003 to October 31, 2003
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ was previously Prime Minister from March 19, 2003 to September 6, 2003
  16. ↑ Was previously President from February 5, 2005 to February 25, 2005, when it was disputed whether he had inherited the presidency from his deceased father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma.
  17. ↑ President of South Sudan since August 11, 2005, but the country only became independent on July 9, 2011. He was previously Acting President from July 30, 2005 to August 11, 2005.

See also

External links