Since we don’t have a forum for factual questions that are indeed mindless and pointless, I thought I’d start here.
Which country currently has the most living former heads of government/state? Two guidelines:
Countries where that is not the same person can choose one or the other
Current head of state/government does not count, even if they are a former head of state/government. (E.g., there was a time when Pierre Trudeau was both a current and former prime minister of Canada)
Canada currently has 6: Martin, Chretien, Campbell, Mulroney, Turner, Clark.
(The US currently has: GW Bush, Clinton, GH Bush, and Carter for a comparatively paltry 4).
I’m guessing countries with a Westminster model will tend to have more because governments can fall any time, whereas those with fixed terms will have less, because short of death or impeachment, they can’t turn over quite as quickly.
I would guess that any volatile state with a weak central government that is prone to coup attempts would lead this list. A quick look at the List of Heads of State of Nigeria on Wikipedia, for instance, shows that eight former heads of state are currently alive: Elizabeth II, Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Goodluck Jonathan.
as seen here, Thailand has 12 living ex-P.M.'s, or 15 if living Acting P.M.'s are included. This doesn’t include the current P.M., nor the Head of State.
How about South Korea? Back when that ferry capsized, the prime minister resigned, and I recall people commenting that the SK prime minister seemingly resigns over all matter of absurdly random things.
Maybe I should have divided this into stable democracy vs other categories, but whatever!
Septimus, I think if I am going to count John Turner for Canada, I have to take acting PMs for other countries. Turner didn’t actually hold a seat while he was Prime Minister, so that’s more-or-less acting.
France has eleven living former Presidents of the Council of Ministers (who is the head of government): Ayrault, Balladur, Chirac, Cresson, Fabius, Fillon, Jospin, Juppe, Raffarin, Rocard, and Villepin.
You will have to go a long way to beat the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, the very small, very stable, and very democratic enclave surrounded by Italy.
San Marino has not one but two co-heads of state, the Captains Regent. They serve six month terms and are not eligible to serve again until at least three years have passed. I am too lazy to count how many former captains are alive on this particular day, but I’m quite certain that it’s a lot. I suspect that San Marino will win even if you regard dual heads of state as cheating and divide their total by two.
Also Switzerland has a rotating one-year presidency and therefore also I am sure a lot of living former incumbents.
I don’t know… Such states do tend to accumulate former leaders at an alarming rate, but they also have a tendency against living former leaders. Eight for Nigeria seems quite remarkable in that regard.
I count 27 living former Presidents on this list. However, the main Wikipedia article on the position is pretty clear that the President is not the head of state; the Federal Council as a body is. One could argue that any former living member of the Federal Council would count as a former living head of state, in which case the Swiss figure is probably over 100.
Looks like Japan has 12 (13 people, but Abe doesn’t count as he is currently in office per the OP).
Andorra’s number can be the same as France’s, as the two leaders are the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell, and the latter position tends to be obtained upon your predecessor’s death. Technically, the count could be lower than France’s if there is a case where a French ex-President is dead but you count the PM, who has no position in Andorra. It looks like if you asked this a little over a year ago, you might’ve counted a bishop in another dioceses who was acting co-prince for a brief period, and also retired from his main position so emeritus status could’ve technically occurred.
Ecuador had about 10 leaders during a 11- or 12-year period between the mid 1990s and mid 2000s, last I checked. So they’re probably somewhere on the list.
Sixto Duran stepped down in 1996, Abdala Bucaram was removed for mental incapacity in 1997, succeeded for a couple of days by his vice president Rosalia Arteaga, then by Fabian Alarcon who finished his term. He was replaced by Jamil Mahuad who was overthrown by Colonel Gutierrez who then handed power over to the vice president Noboa. Gutierrez won the next election and was overthrown in a popular revolt in 2005, and was succeeded by a caretaker government under Palacio. Correa won the next election a year later, and is still in charge, so I guess that makes nine heads of state in ten years.
As far as I know they’re all still alive (as are, probably, some of the heads of state prior to 1992).
I respectfully disagree. Turner was Prime Minister. He wasn’t a caretaker, or anyone else’s deputy.
For instance, Turner advised the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and call an election. That’s not the action of a caretaker. Only the Prime Minister can dissolve Parliament that way.
Second, Turner could have cancelled Trudeau’s patronage appointments, since they had not been finalised. He not only decicded to confirm the patronage appointments, he added several more to the list. Ultimately, this counted against him in the general election, but it demonstrates that he was making his own decisions: “You had an option, Sir!”
And, the fact that he didn’t have a seat in the Commons doesn’t mean he was a caretaker. There is no legal requirement that the Prime Minister (or Premier, provincially) hold a seat in the Commons (or provincial Assembly).It’s not uncommon in our system for a party to elect a leader who doesn’t have a seat at the time. That doesn’t mean the individual isn’t the Prime Minister (or Premier, as the case may be).
You’re right, of course, and I didn’t mean to disparage the legitimacy of Turner’s Prime Ministership. I just didn’t want to be seen as padding my own list at the expense of other countries’.
