7 Longest Serving Leaders In Africa Currently In Power

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has so far refused to step down after losing his bid for a fifth term. He has been in power for more than 22 years, but other current African leaders have ruled longer, many of them buoyed by little tolerated opposition and abolished or manipulated term limits, but these ones below are the longest serving leaders.

Check also: Top 5 Richest Presidents And Kings In Africa

7 of them have led for more than 30 years. They are:

1). Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (Equatorial Guinea) – 37 years

Age: 74

In power since: August 3, 1979, when he toppled his uncle in a military coup.

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.

2). Jose Eduardo dos Santos (Angola) -37 years

Age: 74

In power since: September 1979, when he was elected the ruling party’s leader upon the previous president’s death.

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, him and the one of Equatorial Guinea are the current longest serving leaders on the continent.

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