Given that all maps on Lone Umbrella have played on data and numbers from the U.S. thus far, I thought it would be nice to create a visual that wasn’t completely Amero-centric for once.
Today’s map features a look at the durations of tenure of current European leaders.
Topping the list is Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko—the first and only President ofBelarus—ruling with an iron fist since the country’s independence upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union. After consolidating power via referendum, Lukashenko proceeded to dismiss the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, thus making him the only de facto legal dictator of any European nation.
Excluding microstates, the second longest reigning European leader is Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the de facto leader of the country since 2000.
Since the Constitution of Russia prohibits consecutive presidential terms, Putin and his Prime Minister— Dmitry Medvedev—have bypassed this by switching positions every election cycle in what has become an odd sort of tandemarchy.
Among democratic countries, Germany’s Angela Merkel has led her country the longest—winning elections with the CDU/CSU coalition in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017—amounting to twelve years as Chancellor.
Coincidentally, it was on this day in 2013, that Chancellor Merkel won a third term.