A lifelong president is a post taken by many dictators with the goal of introducing an unlimited term of office for themselves and to protect against possible defeat in the election.
Content
Post History
The first model was Guy Julius Caesar , who in 45 BC. e. proclaimed himself the eternal dictator (which is often mistranslated as a life dictator ), while initially the dictator in ancient Rome could be at his post for only six months.
In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte was elected first life consul. Not all lifelong presidents held this position for the rest of their lives. Some were overthrown, some later killed. Rafael Carrera , Francois Duvalier , Josip Broz Tito , Jose Gaspard Rodriguez de Francia and Saparmurat Niyazov and some others, retained their posts until their natural death. Many leaders, who were actually life-long, were re-elected regularly for a new term during the official elections. Others could not get the approval of their life-long powers, for example, Mobutu Sese Seko in 1972. George Washington has repeatedly rejected offers to become president for life. Life-long presidents, especially those who inherit power, like Duvalier , are not much different from monarchs, just as a family dictatorship is from an absolute monarchy .
List of Presidents for Life
Lifetime President title bearers
The following are the heads of state officially bearing the title of "lifetime president":
- Henri Christoph , State of Haiti ( 1807 ) - in 1811 he became king of the Kingdom of Haiti , died on the throne in 1820 . After his death, the kingdom occupying the northern part of modern Haiti was abolished and merged with the Republic of Haiti in the south.
- Alexander Petion , Republic of Haiti ( 1816 ; President since 1808) - died on a post in 1818 . Jean-Pierre Boyer became his successor (see below)
- Jean-Pierre Boyer , Republic of Haiti ( 1818 ) - successor to Alexander Petion. In 1843, removed from power by a group of conspirators led by Charles Arar de Riviera , died in 1850 .
- Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna ( 1853 ; president in 1833 (three periods lasting from two weeks to two months each), 1834–1835, 1839, 1841–1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1847 (two periods), 1853–1855 ) - In total, he served as president 11 times over 22 years. In 1853 he proclaimed himself the president for life with the title of His clairvoyance [1] . In 1855 he was forced to resign, died in 1876.
- / Rafael Carrera , Guatemala ( 1854 ; president in 1847-1848 and from 1851) - died on a post in 1865 .
- Sukarno , Indonesia ( 1963 ; president from 1945, in 1949-1959 - ceremonial head of state in a parliamentary republic , from 1959 - absolute president) - received the title of president for life from the People’s Consultative Congress (NCC) in 1963 [2] . Removed from power in several stages. In September 1965, an attempted coup d'etat took place in the country, suppressed by the military led by Suharto . In March 1966, Suharto received from Sukarno the right to act on behalf of the president, that is, he became the de facto head of the executive branch. In July 1966 he became chairman of the Presidium of the Cabinet (de facto head of government). Finally, in the same 1966, the NCC removed the title of the president for life from Sukarno three years earlier. In 1967, the NCC removed Soekarno from the post of president and appointed and. about. President Suharto; the following year, the latter officially became the new president of Indonesia. Sukarno died in 1970.
- / Kwame Nkrumah [3] , Ghana ( 1964 ; president since 1960, prime minister in 1957-1960, prime minister of the British colony Gold Coast in 1952-1957) - was elected president in the 1960 elections , receiving 89.07% of the vote. Overthrown in 1966 by the military, led by Joseph Ankra . He died in 1972 .
- Francois Duvalier , Republic of Haiti ( 1964 ; president since 1957) - elected president for six years in 1957 , receiving 72.4% of the vote. At the postscript “Francois Duvalier - President” was made; after the election, it was announced that citizens “voluntarily” re-elected Duvalier for a new six-year term. He died on a post in 1971 , appointed his son Jean-Claude as successor (see below).
- Hastings Banda [3] , Malawi ( 1971 : president since 1966, prime minister in 1964-1966, prime minister of the British protectorate Nyasaland in 1963-1964) - was deprived of the title in 1993 in 1994 lost the Bakili Muluzi .
- Jean-Claude Duvalier , Republic of Haiti ( 1971 ) - became the heir to his father, deposed in 1986 . He died in 2014 .
- Jean-Bedel Bokassa (also known as Salah al-Din Ahmed Bokassa ) [3] , Central African Republic ( 1972 ; president since 1966) - in 1976 proclaimed himself emperor of the Central African Empire . Deposed in 1979. He died in 1996 .
- Francisco Masias Nguema [3] , Equatorial Guinea ( 1972 ; president since 1968) - was overthrown by his nephew Theodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and was killed in 1979.
- Josip Broz Tito , Yugoslavia ( 1974 ; president from 1953, chairman of the government from 1945-1963, leader of the resistance from 1941) - proclaimed president of the Yugoslav Constitution of 1974 for life. At the same time, he became the lifetime chairman of the Presidium of the Union by the Communist of Yugoslavia and chairman of the Presidium of the SFRY . Prior to this, since 1953, several times without alternative was elected to the post of president of the Allied Assembly . Article 220 of the 1963 constitution stipulated a restriction prohibiting the president from being re-elected more than two times (previous constitutions did not contain it), but the next article made an exception personally for Tito. He died on a post in 1980 . After his death, the presidency was abolished, the Presidium of the SFRY became the collective head of state.
- Habib Bourguiba , Tunisia ( 1975 ; President from 1957, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tunisia in 1956-1957) - until his proclamation as president for life, he was elected to this post without alternative and with a result of 100% in , , and . Overthrown in 1987 by Zin El-Abidine Ben Ali . He died in 2000 .
- Idi Amin [3] , Uganda ( 1976 ; president since 1971) - deposed during the war with Tanzania in 1979 . He died in 2003 .
- Lennox Cebe , Bantustan Siskey (de jure independent, de facto part of South Africa ) ( 1983 ; president since 1981, head of the government of autonomous Siskey since 1972) - was overthrown in 1990 by Oupa Hzgozo . He died in 2014 .
- / Saparmurat Niyazov [4] , Turkmenistan ( 1999 , president since 1990 ) - de facto head of the Turkmen SSR since 1986 , when he took up the post of first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan. Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Turkmen SSR (head of state) in 1990 . President of the Turkmen SSR since 1990; Since 1991 - President of independent Turkmenistan. He won the election twice as the only candidate - in 1990 (98.3%) and 1992 (99.5%). In 1994, his powers were extended in a referendum until 2000 . In 1999, the Hulk Maslakhaty was proclaimed a life president. He died on a post in 2006 . Wore the titles of Serdar (Leader) and the Eternally Great Saparmurat Turkmenbashi (Head of Turkmens).
Holders of other titles
The following are heads of state with a republican form of government who officially held office for life, but were not called life presidents:
- Julius Caesar ( Roman Republic ) - held a number of senior government posts since the 50s. BC e., in particular, was a consul (59, 48, 46-44 BC) and a dictator (49, 48-47, 46-44 BC). In 44 BC e. became a lifelong dictator - before that, dictators were elected for no more than 6 months. Killed the same year .
- Francois Dominic Toussin-Louverture ( San Domingo ) - leader of the Haitian revolution since 1791. Under the constitution of 1801, he was proclaimed governor of life , in 1802 he was defeated and imprisoned in France , where he died in 1803 , without giving up his post. After his death, the new leader of the rebels was Jean-Jacques Dessaline , who in 1804 became the first emperor of Haiti .
- Napoleon Bonaparte ( French Republic ) - since 1799 he was the first of three consuls of the French Republic who were elected for ten years; the other two consuls had only an advisory voice in discussing state affairs and had practically no influence. In 1802, he became consul for life , gaining the right to appoint his consul colleagues. In 1804 he was proclaimed emperor . In 1814 he was overthrown and sent into exile , in 1815 for a short time he again became emperor , again overthrown and again sent into exile . He died in 1821 .
- / José Gaspard Rodríguez de Francia , Paraguay - one of the two (along with Fulgencio Yegros ) consuls of Paraguay (1813-1814), interim dictator (1814-1816), permanent dictator (1816-1820), supreme dictator (from 1820 ); in the last two posts he was officially the life leader of the state. He died in office in 1840 . His successor was the head of the Provisional Junta Manuel Antonio Ortiz .
See also
- Limitation of the term of the board - absent under a lifelong and de facto lifelong presidency.
- A super-presidential republic is a political system in which the president has extremely broad powers.
- Dictator , Dictatorship - about other rulers who have or had unlimited power and ruled for an unlimited period.
Notes
- ↑ R. Scheina. Santa Anna: A Curse Upon Mexico. - 2003 .-- P. 52.
- ↑ Ketetapan MPRS No. III / MPRS / 1963 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF POLITICAL POWER IN AFRICA Daniel N. Posner and Daniel J. Young, Journal of Democracy Volume 18, Number 3 July 2007 pages 126-140 doi: 10.1353 / jod.2007.0053 (English) "In the 1960s and 1970s, ..leaders who wanted to perpetuate their rule to have themselves declared "president for life" - as did the Central African Republic's Jean-Bédel Bokassa (who later promoted himself to "emperor"), Equatorial Guinea's Francisco Macías Nguema , Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, Malawi's Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Togo's Gnassingbé Eyadéma, Uganda's Idi Amin, and Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko. "
- ↑ Kathleen Collins, CLANS, PACTS, AND POLITICS IN CENTRAL ASIA // Journal of Democracy Volume 13, Number 3 July 2002, pages 137-152 “Turkmenistan's Sapurmarad Niazov, who had himself elected“ president for life “in 1999”
Links
- The List: Presidents for Life , Foreign Policy (NOVEMBER 5, 2007). Date of treatment November 26, 2017.
- Countries in which presidents are lifelong. Help , RIA Novosti (05/18/2007). Date of treatment November 26, 2017.