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Era of
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Deby won a fifth term as president of Chad in last year, 26 years after he took
over the reins of the country through a coup. Access to the internet was cut
during voting. In 2001, Deby had said he would step down after
Erdogan was elected to the office of prime minister in 2002, and spent
11 years in that position before becoming the country’s first elected
president in 2014. That role was supposed to be largely ceremonial.
A 2007 constitutional reform passed by referendum had made the
presidential election one via a direct national vote. The latest referendum gives the
COUNTRY: TURKEY
“Strong
Leaders”
his second term but in 2005, he held a referendum to get
approved constitutional changes to remove the
two-term limit for presidency. A majority of the
president the power to directly appoint ministers and vice-presidents, to
intervene in the judiciary and the power to impose a state of Emergency.
Idriss Deby
The referendum also abolished the post of prime minister
COUNTRY: CHAD
Nazarbayev was elected as president in 1990, before
which he was first secretary of the Communist
Party of Kazakhstan. Each time he was
re-elected his vote share has increased,
crossing 97% in the last election in 2015
though these elections have been
criticised by international observers.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
recent referendum to grant his office
sweeping powers is being seen as the latest
instance of the popular acceptance of the
so-called “Strong Leader”. But many of these
leaders, like Erdogan, have been consolidating their position by amending their country’s constitution, allowing them to continue
in office. ET Magazine brings you a snapshot of the leaders currently in power
through these means, as well as a look at
other controversial rulers down the ages
voters approved of the changes
Vladimir Putin
COUNTRY: RUSSIA
Named acting president by
predecessor Boris Yeltsin, Putin
was elected as president in 2000.
He served two terms as president
and then spent four years as prime
minister, before returning to the
presidential office in 2012.
According to the Russian
constitution, he was not
In 2007, the Kazakh
Parliament voted to allow
the president an unlimited
number of terms of office.
Three years later, the
president was bestowed
with the title of “leader
of the nation”
allowed to run for a third
consecutive presidential
term, so he made then
prime minister Dmitry
Medvedev his successor in
2008, before swapping
places in 2012. That same
year, the Russian
Parliament passed a
constitutional amendment
that extended the
presidential term
from four years
to six
Nursultan Nazarbayev
COUNTRY: KAZAKHSTAN
:: Indulekha Aravind
Head of the government since 1990 and sworn in as
president in 1994, Emomali Rahmon has been in office
for over two decades. In December 2015, he was
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Emomali Rahmon
COUNTRY: TAJIKISTAN
bestowed the title of “Leader of the Nation”.
A month later, the Parliament approved changes to the
constitution that allows the president to run for office as
many times as he would like to. Another amendment reduces the
age for presidential candidates to 30, which observers say would allow
Rahmon’s elder son to contest when his current terms ends in 2020
Dictators In 70-mm
Dictatorships, especially military dictators, have been a subject for filmmakers
CHILE
The Chilean military under
General Augusto Pinochet overthrew the
democratically elected government of Salvador
Allende in 1974. From then to 1990, it was a military
junta who was heading the government, a period
infamous for the persecution of dissidents
Military
Dictatorships
While some leaders were
elected to power and
stayed in office for long
years through
constitutional reform,
there are others who took
over the reins by force
LIBYA
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi
seized power in a bloodless military coup
in 1969, as a young and charismatic army
officer. Though he termed Libya a new socialist
state in 1977 and adopted a symbolic role
officially, he continued to be the real
power by being the head of the
military and revolutionary
committees. He was
captured and killed
in 2011, following
civil rest sparked by
the Arab Spring
MYANMAR
Fourteen years
after
independence
from British
rule, the military
junta took over
the country, at
first through a
single-party
socialist system..
In 2011, a
nominally
civilian
government
PAKISTAN
Pakistan has come under military rule
thrice since its formation. The last was from
1999 to 2008, under General Pervez
Musharaff who had then-prime minister
Nawaz Sharif arrested
THE LAST KING OF
SCOTLAND (2006)
THE GREAT DICTATOR
THE DICTATOR (2012)
THE INTERVIEW (2014)
Starring Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin,
the 20th century dictatorial ruler of
Uganda, the film, a fictional account,
looks at the regime through the eyes
of his physician Dr Nicholas
Garrigan. The film is based on the
novel by journalist Giles Foden
The film, a satire on Hitler’s regime
leading up to World War 2, has Charlie
Chaplin in the two main roles. The first
was the dictator of Tomainia,
representing Hitler, and the other, that of
Jewish Barber, who becomes involved in
an uprising to kill the dictator
A spoof on Libya’s Gaddafi
written by and starring
Sacha Baron Cohen, the film
revolves around the
dictatorial leader Aladeen,
who is summoned to the UN
Assembly and the comedy
that ensues
Another satire, this time on
North Korea’s former leader Kim
Jong Un. In the film, Seth Rogen
and James Franco play
journalists who are supposed to
interview the North Korean
dictator but are recruited by CIA
to assassinate him
(1940)