Paris:

Vladimir Putin, who on Friday introduced that he’ll search a fifth time period as Russian president in elections subsequent 12 months, is likely one of the world’s ten longest-serving elected leaders.

Listed below are the highest 10, ranked by whole variety of years in energy.

– Equatorial Guinea’s Obiang: 44 years –

The Soviet Union was nonetheless a decade from collapse when Teodoro Obiang Nguema, 81, got here to energy in a coup within the west African state of Equatorial Guinea in 1979.

Below his repressive 44-year rule, Equatorial Guinea has develop into often known as the “North Korea of Africa”.

– Cameroon’s Biya: 41 years –

The world’s oldest elected chief, 90-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, has dominated his west African nation with an iron fist since November 1982.

Nicknamed “the Sphinx” for his inscrutable nature, he gained a seventh consecutive time period in 2018 after elections marred by allegations of fraud.

– Congo-Brazzaville’s Sassou Nguesso: 39 years –  

Republic of Congo (also referred to as Congo-Brazzaville): Denis Sassou Nguesso, 80, has spent 39 years on the helm of the nation in central Africa. He was president from 1979 to 1992, then returned in 1997 after a civil battle and has remained in energy ever since.

– Uganda’s Museveni: 37 years –

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 79, has led the central African nation for 37 years. He was re-elected to a contested sixth time period in 2021 elections.

– Tajikistan’s Rahmon: 31 years –

Tajikistan: Emomali Rahmon, a 71-year-old former collective farm boss who got here to energy shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has had a agency grip on his poor, mountainous nation for 31 years.

– Eritrea’s Afwerki: 30 years –

Former insurgent chief Isaias Afwerki, 77, has been president of the reclusive Horn of Africa nation of Eritrea because it gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

– Belarus’s Lukashenko: 29 years –

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, 69, an in depth ally of Putin, has used Soviet-style repression to stay in energy in Ukraine’s neighbour for 29 years.

– Djibouti’s Guelleh: 24 years –

Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh, 76, who was re-elected to a fifth time period in 2021, has been chief of the nation that types itself the “Dubai of Africa”, for twenty-four years.

– Russia’s Putin: 24 years –

In Russia, 71-year-old Putin has been chief since December 1999.

He turned appearing president in December 1999, then served two phrases from 2000 to 2008 earlier than swapping jobs along with his prime minister Dmitry Medvedev to avoid guidelines limiting consecutive presidential mandates to 2, solely to reclaim the position of Kremlin chief in 2012.

Time period limits would have disqualified Putin from standing within the subsequent election however a controversial constitutional reform in 2020 paved the way in which for him to remain in energy till at the very least 2036.

– Rwanda’s Kagame: 23 years –

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a former Tutsi insurgent chief who put an finish to a genocide of Tutsis in 1994, has been president of the small central African republic since April 2000.

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)