How Long Can Heads of Government Serve? 🌎

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The term limits and lengths of heads of government in various major countries.

Data comes from Wikipedia and various government websites.

Types of Term Limits

Term limits, a legal restriction on the number of terms a leader can serve in their office, prevent one person from holding power too long, ensuring fresh leadership and regular democratic turnover.

Term limits can be categorized as lifetime term limits or consecutive term limits, as defined below:

Lifetime term limits: Prevent an individual from holding the same office for more than a set number of terms, regardless of any breaks between terms.
Consecutive term limits: Prevent an individual from holding the same office for more than a set number of terms back-to-back. They may run for office again after a break.
No term limits: No legal restriction on the number of terms a leader can serve. (In many parliamentary countries like Canada, the UK, and Australia, leaders must retain their party’s support and parliamentary confidence to stay in power.)

Extending Term Limits for Power

Removing or extending term limits, as seen with China’s Xi Jinping in 2018, helps incumbents consolidate power indefinitely.

Besides Xi Jinping, other world leaders have sought to extend their time in office by amending rules around term limits, such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

In 2020, Putin implemented several constitutional amendments, including changing Russia's two-term limit from consecutive to lifetime, while also resetting his term count to zero.

This allowed him to run and win reelection in 2024, and gives him the option to do so again in 2030, potentially extending his presidency until 2036.