Like many African presidents, Vladimir Putin, candidate for a fifth term and absolute ruler of Russia for a quarter of a century, is steadily climbing to the top of the list of world leaders who have mostly muzzled the opposition. But Putin still has a long way to go before joining the list of despotic leaders still hanging on to power at all cost.
44 years… Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the living record holder
Former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh’s host is the current living record holder with 44 years in power. Following a coup d’état, Teodoro Obiang Nguema became president of Equatorial Guinea 44 years ago. Unsurprisingly, he was re-elected for a sixth term in 2022 at the age of 81. With the exception of kings or leaders appointed for life, he is the head of state with the longest tenure in history.
The unbeatable President Paul Biya, sometimes known as the “Sphinx,” has ruled Cameroon uninterruptedly for 41 years. In 2018, he was chosen again for a seventh term. He is the oldest elected leader, at 90 years old.
Over 30 years in power
Denis Sassou Nguesso, the dictatorial leader of the Congo, is 80 years old and has been in power for approximately 40 years (in two periods).
Yoweri Museveni, a former guerilla, has ruled Uganda for the past 37 years. The unassailable head of state was re-elected for a sixth term in January 2021.
Emomali Rakhmon, Tajikistan’s unquestioned ruler, seized power in a political coup in 1992, shortly after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. He is the longest-serving leader of the former Soviet Union, having been re-elected for a fifth term in 2020.
President Issaias Afeworki has presided over Eritrea for the past 30 years, since the country’s independence on May 24, 1993. He established a one-party state with no elections and harsh repression of any opposition.
20 years at the helm
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been in power for 29 years and is a close supporter of Vladimir Putin. The 69-year-old despot was triumphantly re-elected five times following elections that Westerners considered illegitimate.
President Ismael Omar Guelleh, 76, of Djibouti, was re-elected for a fifth term in 2021 after leading this small country in the Horn of Africa for 24 years.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin, who has switched positions, has also been in power for 24 years. He was elected president in March 2000 after arriving in the Kremlin on December 31, 1999. After two terms, he handed over the Kremlin to his Prime Minister, Dmitri Medvedev, who assumed control of the government in 2008. He was re-elected president in 2012 and again in 2018, and he is running for a fifth term in the March 17 election at the age of 71.
Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s de facto leader since the conclusion of the 1994 genocide, was officially elected president in March 2000, 23 years later. The former rebel leader has already declared his candidacy for a fourth term in the August 2024 election.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad took over from his father, Hafez, who died in 2000 after 30 years in power. The former ophthalmologist was re-elected for a fourth term in May 2021 in a country suffering from economic stagnation and scarred by a decade of conflict.
Fidel Castro historical record holder
Fidel Castro, the late Cuban revolutionary leader (who died at the end of 2016 at the age of 90), ruled the country for 49 years before handing over power to his brother Raul in 2008, who officially stepped down in 2021.
