World leaders that are 'irreplaceable'

Russian President Putin has something to look up to

There are a lot of faces in politics worldwide that have not changed for years. Some of them are loved and good for the country, but others are keeping their seats for other reasons.

After all the votes were counted by Russia's Supreme Electoral Commission, the country's "eternal" leader, Vladimir Putin, received 87.28% of the vote. However, he has only just entered the top five CIS leaders, both in terms of the number of votes received and the length of time he has been in power. And if you look around the world, it is clear that a regular term of office for the leader of a neighboring country is not its record. Putin is rivaled not only by the leaders of the former USSR but also by those of Africa and the Middle East.

As for Russia's neighbors, the last presidential elections were more successful than the last, with Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon receiving 90.92% of the vote in 2020 (although the opposition calls it a sham) and Azerbaijan's leader, Ilham Aliyev, receiving 92% of the vote this year. It is likely that the popularity of the Aliyev dynasty has been boosted by the 'final settlement of the Karabakh issue', as Baku sees the situation, and the abolition of the world's unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

His Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, was only slightly behind the Russian leader with 87.05% of the vote in 2023^[1].

Kasym-Zomart Tokayev, the successor to long-time Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, enjoyed 81.31% of the vote in the early presidential elections in 2022. The snap elections were triggered by mass unrest in the same year, triggered by rising petrol prices and quelled by security forces. Following the violence, K.Z. Tokayev reformed the presidency, and now only one person can lead the country for one 7-year term. In January 2024, he assured that he had no plans to change the constitution or to try again to become the country's leader.

Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko, who will celebrate his 30th anniversary in power this year, received 80.1% of the vote in the 2020 elections, even though people are aware that the elections were fraudulent and that the real Belarusian leader is Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has been living in Lithuania for a few years and whose husband publicly celebrated the Russian occupation of Crimea. Incidentally, when Tsikhanouskaya herself was living safely in Lithuania, her supporters in Belarus organized protests. They were brutally suppressed, and Minsk was slapped with new sanctions.

European leaders are not the only ones

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame is the world's leader with the longest reign or the most votes. In the 2017 elections, he "got" 98.79% of the vote. Although remembering that he has been in power since 2000, this should not be surprising. It is only surprising that the West has not noticed this and is not rushing to bring democracy to Rwanda.

By the way, in the former republics of the USSR, Lukashenko and Rahmon, who have been in charge of their countries longer than Putin, cannot even compare with the 'kings' of Africa.

For example, Isaiah Afewerki, 78, is the first and only President of Eritrea. He led the struggle for independence from Ethiopia and has led the country since 1993. He abolished elections in the republic altogether in 1997, so he did not even have to worry about re-election, but he is not called a dictator by the West.

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has led Uganda since 1986. He fought in the Civil War, drafted the Constitution, banned the multi-party system, and finally abolished the presidential limit. Despite this, he keeps getting re-elected and re-elected in national elections. In 2021, for example, he won with only 58.64% of the vote, which, compared with other long-serving presidents, is even somewhat democratic. Uganda's leader is currently 79 years old.

And a few more record-breaking leaders

Cameroon has been led since 1982 without change by the regularly re-elected Polis Biya, who is now 91 years old. This makes him the oldest president to lead the country since July 2019. As of 8 September 2022, the date of the death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, he is also the country's oldest leader. Incidentally, despite his venerable age, last year, he attended the Russia-Africa meeting in St Petersburg and had talks with Putin.

Another undisputed leader in the presidency is Theodore Obiang Ngema Mbasogo, who has been the leader of Equatorial Guinea since 1979. At that time, he staged a military coup and overthrew the previous president, his uncle, who had wanted to rule for life^[2]. He took his place and shot the uncle to prevent him from interfering. Presidential elections were held in 1996. There was only one candidate, T.O. himself, N. Mbasogo, who won 97.85% of the vote.

In 2013, North Korea awarded the leader of Equatorial Guinea the Kim Jong Il Prize. In 2016, the editor-in-chief of the Liberian publication New Democrat was arrested for accusing the leader of cannibalism.

In 2022, T.O. Mbasogo's party nominated him as a presidential candidate and appointed him to lead the country for another term.