Will Nawaz be among four-timed world premiers?

LAHORE: As the 74-year-old former premier of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, is being tipped hot favourite to join the select band of four-time elected global premiers in 2024, research shows that not many politicians have achieved this incredible feat.

These handful politicians who became heads of government four times include the likes of Sheikh Hasina Wajid, the incumbent Premier of Bangladesh, who had won her fourth term in 2018. Having served for a combined total of over 19 years, she is the longest serving prime minister in her country’s history and the world’s longest-serving female ruler.

In October 2023, Robert Fico was appointed Slovakia’s prime minister for the fourth time, after pledging in his election campaign to end military support for Ukraine and criticising sanctions on Russia.

In June 2023, Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister who overcame various scandals to hold office four times, died at 86. After taking political office in 1994, the billionaire media tycoon led four governments until 2011 - though not consecutively. Britain’s former premier William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) was appointed four times. He was also the oldest person ever appointed at the age of 82.

In a career lasting over 60 years, Gladstone served for 12 years as the UK’s premier, spread over four non-consecutive terms (the most of any British prime minister) beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894.

Former Canadian premier William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874-1950) also served for four terms. His tenures lasted 21 years, five months, and one day or 7,824 days.

It is imperative to note that the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, has been his country’s Prime Minister since 1984, which means he has called shots in this capacity for around 40 years. He has been Brunei’s Sultan since 1967, and is world’s longest-reigning monarch and longest-serving head of state currently.

Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain is the longest-serving prime minister in the world. In 1971, when Bahrain gained independence from Britain, Prince Khalifa was appointed as prime minister. He was in power for almost half a century until his death in November 2020. Lee Kuan Yew was the prime minster of Singapore from 1959 to 1990.

Former British premier Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was in office for one-term only, but she ruled for 11 years and 288 days between 1979 and 1990. By the way, Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang has been ruling for 44 years. The world’s oldest elected leader, 90-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, has led his West African country with an iron fist since November 1982. Uganda’s President Museveni has been ruling for 37 years. He was re-elected to a contested sixth term in 2021 elections.