The previous two weeks have set the African continent on the world map for the wrong reasons. Ex-Gambian President Yahya Jammeh held on power driving the recently chosen Adama Barrow to be sworn in at the Gambian embassy in Senegal.
He has been in power for more than 22 years, but other current African leaders have ruled longer. Below is a list of Seven other African leaders who have led for more than 30 years…
1. Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) — 36 years
Current election rules: Five-year terms, no term limits. He has claimed victory in popular votes — sometimes highly controversially — in 1990, 1996, 2002, 2008, and 2013. He is the last living African leader who’s been in power continuously since his country’s independence.
2. King Mswati III (Swaziland) — 30 years
3. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (Equatorial Guinea) — 37 years
Current election rules: The president is elected in a majority popular vote for seven-year terms. This leader last claimed victory in an April 2016 election, reportedly with 93.7% of the vote. Opposition members and human rights groups have questioned the elections’ fairness.
4. Denis Sassou-Nguesso (Republic of Congo) — 33 years, nonconsecutive
5. Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) — 31 years
Age: 72
6. Paul Biya (Cameroon) — 34 years
Current election rules: Majority popular vote for seven-year terms. Last elected in October 2012. No term limits.
7. Jose Eduardo dos Santos (Angola) — 37 years
Current election rules: Under terms of a constitution approved in 2010, the leader of the party that wins a popular parliamentary vote is president for five years. Dos Santos’ party won elections in 2012, so under the new rules, he started the first of a possible two terms. The election was Angola’s third since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975, as it was often wracked by civil war.