When talking about the longevity of a leader, it is common to use newspaper archives and even ‘numbers’ to account for the importance of his figure. The reign of Elizabeth II of Englandthe periodically renewed presidency of Florentino Pérez at Real Madrid or the reluctance of Vladimir Putin to rise from the presidential chair in Russia are some examples. There is another, even better because of the exceptional nature of his case, that of Paul Biya, president of Cameroon since 1982… and what remains.
The controversial Cameroonian leader, under constant accusation of dictator or leader in a subject country, has renewed his mandate at the age of 92 after his recent electoral victory… And there are already eight.
This time, the verdict has been delayed two weeks since the October 12 elections, due to the claim of the opponent Issa Tchiroma Bakary of having been the one who won. Finally, the Constitutional Court has ruled in favor of the all-powerful and elderly leader, with 53.66% of the votes, compared to Bakary’s 35.19%.
“Therefore, he is proclaimed as elected president of the Republic, after obtaining the majority of the votes, the candidate Paul Biya“, ratified the president of the Constitutional Court, Clement Atangana. Ahead, if health is good, another legislature initially planned for seven years.
With its milestone, Paul Biya ratifies his position as the oldest non-monarchical head of state in the world. Just take a look at their history, full of conspiracies, self-coups and social repression, of six decades in power, of them 43 as president (for now), since November 1982.
If we have to do the math based on the popes who have ‘accompanied’ Biya’s government, when he took office he occupied the Holy See John Paul II. Despite his also extensive mandate, he was succeeded by Benedict XVIFrancisco and now Leo XIV.
In Spain, apart from coming from sporting failure of the 1982 World Cupin Spain Felipe González had just come to power. His 14 years of government were followed by eight under José María Aznar, seven under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, another seven under Rajoy and so far seven under Pedro Sánchez. When it comes to kings there is not much trouble. Then it was the time of Juan Carlos I and now it is the time of Felipe VI.
The measurement is much shorter in United Kingdom if we use royalty. At the ‘entry’ of Paul Biya, Elizabeth II had already been on the throne for years, continued just a few years ago by her son, Charles III. Instead, the list of premiers Yes, it is extensive… Because in 1982 the ‘iron’ hand of Margaret Thatcherwho would be followed by John Mayor, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and more recently – and much more unstablely – Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Elizabeth Truss, Rishi Sunak and the current one, Keir Starmer. Ten British Prime Ministers in which Cameroon only knew one leader.
If we go to Francethings don’t improve much either (much less with recent Macronist times). Back in 1982, in the neighboring country, the President of the Republic was François Mitterrand, with a long and repeated mandate of 14 years, succeeded by Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, François Hollande and, since 2017, Emmanuel Macron. Be careful with the parallel list of prime ministers, none other than 22 since 1982…although certainly in the last year and a half there have been four. As of the publication of this piece, Sébastien Lecornu remains.
What France is today years ago was Italiawhere being a political leader seemed like the quintessential temporary job But long before Giorgia Meloni, the last five decades in the transalpine country were a non-stop of exchanges. Because presidents of the Republic have six (Sandro Pertini, Francesco Cossiga, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Giorgio Napolitano and Sergio Mattarella), but the one we conventionally call us prime ministers… Up to 24 movements in the last 43 years, including Silvio Berlusconi three times or Romano Prodi or Giuliano Amato two times,
What we cannot count, because it is incomprehensible, are the farewell tours of The Rolling Stones and Scorpions in this time. The newspaper library goes as far as it goes…
