Eternal presidents of post-Soviet countries: how they achieved decades in power and pompous titles

Color of the nation, Founder of the world, Patron. What titles do the presidents of the countries of Central Asia have? "Present".

Photo: Shutterstock

The Uzbek deputies proposed to confer the honorary title of Leader of the Nation on President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Initially, the initiative came from Senator Kudratilla Rafikov. He even wrote an article praising Mirziyoyev's services to the nation.

Rafikov said that Uzbeks, especially the younger generation, have great confidence in the president, and Mirziyoyev is universally admired among children. At the end of the material, Kudratillo Rafikov called for calling the president “Millat sardori” - “Leader of the Nation.”

This practice is not new to Central Asian countries. Almost all heads of state in the region have received high-profile titles.

The first in the region to receive the honorary title was Saparmurat Niyazov, the first president of Turkmenistan. The authoritarian leader took the title Turkmenbashi, meaning “Head of the Turkmen,” in 1993. This is how both officials and ordinary citizens addressed him. Then they decided to immortalize Niyazov’s title in geography - an entire city, a number of villages and streets, and even a mountain peak received the name Turkmenbashi. Also in use was the unofficial title “Serdar” - in Turkmen “Leader”.

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His successor Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov followed in Niyazov’s footsteps. In 2011, the council of elders awarded him the title Arkadag. Officially, the title is translated by the state media of Turkmenistan as “Stronghold, support and hope” or “Patron”. Citizens of the country should address and mention Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov as “our merciful Arkadag.” In parallel with this title, the president is also called “Savior” and “Color of the Nation.”

The leader of the nation lives in Kazakhstan - Nursultan Nazarbayev received this title in 2010. In the full version, it sounds like “The First President” - “Elbasy”. In his honor, Kazakhstan celebrates a national holiday on December 1. On this day the country rests. And Nazarbayev’s own birthday may coincidentally coincide with the day of the capital, which is named after him. The president In 2019, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan signed a law on amending the country's Constitution regarding the renaming of the capital of the Republic of Astana to Nur-Sultan.

The President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, the Founder of Peace and National Unity and the Leader of the Nation, does not lag behind his colleagues. The head of the country received this title in 2015, and with it the opportunity to run for the presidency an infinite number of times. In addition to his official title, state media and officials refer to Rakhmon as “Your Majesty,” “Your Excellency,” and “Leader of the Nation.”

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It is also worth remembering about the permanent leader of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. The nickname “daddy” was first used in relation to Lukashenka in the mid-1990s. Later, this nickname was fixed in the Belarusian and Russian-speaking societies, including in the leading mass media. In a number of interviews, Lukashenka called himself that nickname.

Decades in power

State leaders also do not want to give up the reins of government and in every possible way are trying to extend their "political life", says D.W.

In the early 1990s, all CIS countries adopted constitutions that limited the length of time one person could serve as president, usually to two terms - 4-5 years each. However, subsequently, many heads of the former Soviet republics received the right to run for more terms, and in some cases they increased the length of the terms themselves or made personal exceptions.

Presidential term is an elastic concept

The former president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, remained in office from 1991 until his death in 2016. In March 2015, he won the next presidential election for the fourth time, gaining 90,39 percent of the vote. At the same time, Article 90 of the country’s constitution, since its adoption in 1992, has invariably enshrined the rule that “the same person cannot be the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan for more than two terms in a row.”

One of Karimov’s terms was written off, recognizing it as “zero”, since its countdown began in 1991, even before the adoption of the current constitution. And when asked by the OSCE on the eve of the 2015 elections why the president was running for a third term in violation of the constitution, the country’s officials gave a rather original answer, recorded in the report of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. “The concept of “term” means an exact number of years, and since previously the presidential term was seven years, and now it will be five years, these terms cannot be considered as two consecutive terms,” it was explained in Tashkent.

President is forever

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko is the first and so far only president of his country, having held this post since 1994. Two years after his first election victory, a referendum was held to change the constitution, after which Lukashenko, following the example of Karimov, “reset” the countdown of the five-year term of his presidency. Therefore, his second term began in the new century, after winning the 2001 elections.

Three years later, another referendum was held in the country, deleting from the constitution a norm that limited the number of consecutive presidential terms for the same person. Lukashenka is currently in office for the sixth term in a row.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev won his first presidential election in 1991 as the only candidate on the ballot. Four years later, his presidential powers in Kazakhstan were extended by referendum until 2000. After this, Nazarbayev won the presidential elections three more times. In 2007, the Kazakh parliament adopted amendments to the country's constitution, limiting the powers of the head of state to two terms. However, an exception was made for Nazarbayev, as the first president of Kazakhstan - he can run for office an unlimited number of times.

His next term in office expired in 2020, but in March 2019, 79-year-old Nazarbayev announced his resignation. However, he retained the posts of head of the country's Security Council and chairman of the ruling party, and his daughter became the speaker of the Kazakh parliament.

Photo: Shutterstock

Running the country is a family business

Ilham Aliyev replaced his father as president of Azerbaijan in 2003, and five years later he again won the presidential elections. In 2009, during his second term as president, he held a referendum that approved constitutional amendments. According to one of them, the same person can be elected head of state more than two times in a row. The European Commission called that referendum a serious step back in the development of democracy in Azerbaijan.

In 2016, the country held another referendum on amendments to the constitution - this time the presidential term was extended from five to seven years. In addition, the position of first vice president was established, which was occupied by the wife of the head of state, Mehriban Aliyeva. In the last elections in Azerbaijan, held on April 11, 2018, Ilham Aliyev won again, gaining 86,22 percent of the votes, thereby gaining the opportunity to remain in office for a fourth term. The opposition boycotted the elections, and international observers reported widespread violations of voting rules.

Reset deadlines

The first president of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, took advantage of the opportunity, popular among the leaders of the CIS countries, to “reset” the first term and remained in power until the “Tulip Revolution” of 2005, after which he fled to Russia.

President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon has repeatedly used the opportunity to “reset to zero.” He first assumed the post of head of state in 1994, remaining in this post after the elections of 1999 and 2006. Each time between elections, he held referendums on major changes to the constitution that nullified his previous terms. One of the versions of the basic law provided for an increase in the tenure of the head of state to seven years.

In January 2016, the Tajik parliament once again voted for amendments to the constitution, allowing the current president to run for office an unlimited number of times and lowering the age threshold for presidential candidates from 35 to 30 years. According to experts, the adopted amendments will allow Rakhmon’s eldest son, Rustam Emomali, to participate in the upcoming elections in the fall of 2020.

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In Russia, Vladimir Putin, after two consecutive presidential terms permitted by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in 2008 gave way to Dmitry Medvedev, and he himself moved to the chair of the prime minister. Medvedev, literally a few months after taking office, proposed amendments to the country's fundamental law, increasing the duration of the presidential term from 4 to 6 years. By the end of 2008, these amendments were ratified.

And in 2012, Vladimir Putin again took the post of President of Russia - now for 6 years, taking advantage of the fact that the Russian constitution only included a limit on the number of consecutive presidential terms. In the elections in March 2018, Putin was elected head of state formally for a second six-year term, but in fact for a fourth. As a result, he adopted amendments to the Constitution, which reset his terms and now has the right to run for president twice more.

Something went wrong

Former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has held office since 2008. At that time, the head of state in Armenia could be elected for no more than two consecutive terms of five years. During his second term as president, Sargsyan carried out constitutional reforms that transformed the country into a parliamentary republic.

The election of a new prime minister, who now became the first person of the state, in 2018 was supposed to complete the transition of Armenia to a new form of government. The parliament controlled by Serzh Sargsyan elected him as prime minister, which allowed the ex-president to retain power, despite the impossibility of running for the post of head of state again. This development of events led to the “velvet revolution” in the country. As a result, Sargsyan resigned, and opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan became the new prime minister.

In Ukraine, the option of a third term for Leonid Kuchma was possible due to the “nullification” of his first presidency by decision of the country’s Constitutional Court. However, Kuchma himself did not take advantage of the opportunity to run again. As a result, after the collapse of the USSR, not a single president of Ukraine exceeded the two terms of 5 years allowed by the constitution. The same applies to Georgia and Lithuania, where similar restrictions have been introduced for the same person holding the highest position in the state.

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