Talk:President for life

What about Kim Il-sung, the eternal president? --Kaihsu Tai 10:32, 25 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Too bad he's dead (!?!?). This is not President for Eternity. He was never given this title while alive. --Jiang

Henri Christophe

Henri Christophe of Haiti became King; not Emperor. He just ruled the north of the island. Jean-Jacques Dessalines was Emperor of Haiti, but Henri Christophe established a Kingdom. That's a difference! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.221.202.41 (talk) 16:34, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Banda

We now have two conflicting dates on when Banda declared himself P-f-L. Please verify. --TwinsFan48

The de facto section is a net loss. We know for a fact that Saddam Hussein did not become President for Life. How do you know he wouldn't have handed power over to his sons earlier to prevent a power struggle? --Jiang 02:09, 18 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Any comments? I'll remove it... --Jiang

Marcos

We have a little problem here...Ferdinand Marcos never proclaimed himself President For Life, if i am not mistaken. Martial rule would be from 1972-1981, and then he called for national elections which he won under very dubious circumstances. He gave his authoritarian regime some semblance of legitimacy by having parliamentary elections every 3 years. But never did he proclaim himself as "President for Life". Shall his entry here be removed? - Soup

Not just yet. I'd argue that a president who makes overt or covert constitutional changes that have the effect of removing the possiblity of him being removed constituionally (except by resignation) is a president for life. (This is my proposed definition). According to this a president for life may not serve until his death (he may be deposed or resign) and he need not proclaim himself as president for life. Now, does Marcos fit that definition? (Does Saddam?)Zeimusu 13:55, 2004 Aug 2 (UTC)

According to the 1935 constitution from which he based his declaration of martial law, as long as martial rule is governing a country, a president may not be removed until it was lifted. After it was lifted in 1981, he called for presidential elections which he won against token opposition, giving him until 1987 to finish his term. But when 1986 came, after the tumultuous snap elections, the EDSA revolution took place protesting the allegedly fraudulent elections. So consitutionally he was still the rightful president until the constitution was overhauled in 1987. We really wouldn't know if he was a president for life.

Fidel Castro

You don't seriously belive Castro's "renewals of mandate" aren't rigged do you Zeimusu? PMA 06:27, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro are missing from the list of current presidents-for-life.

As unpopular as those two are in the USA, I don't think they fit this category. Chavez is legally elected (though I doubt he would voluntarily give up power if he ever stood to lose an election), and more than likely, if Castro stood in a contested election, he would win too.

And even that doesn't matter - this is not a list of dictators. - 11:26, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

Idi Amin

no idi? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.146.198.203 (talk) 06:29, 22 December 2006 (UTC).

There seems to be a new edit about President George W. Bush, which goes against stating predictions of the future as fact, and seems to be uneditable.

Julius Caesar

Was never a "president", and should no be on this list. His inclusion is inaccurate. - Izzo

Nor was he the first Roman dictator to be granted office with no term limit. Although he ended up stepping down voluntarily, Lucius Cornelius Sulla was granted the dictatorship indefinitely around 40 years before Caesar was.131.230.150.104 (talk) 19:34, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Cite Tag

Is there anything in particular that the article needs in the way of citations? This has been up since Oct. 2006, so whoever posted it has seemingly abandoned it. - MSTCrow 02:42, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Lifetime dictators/presidents, etc

Do you think information related to other lifetime presidency's/dictatorships, etc should be merged or related to this article in some sort of group / or amalgamation? It's a short article as it is... Example: SABDFL (Mark shuttleworth, ubuntu guy, wants to self-proclaim himself as benevolent dictator for life...) His SABDFL article was deleted b/c it was short, but maybe others feel it's related to this Life time presidency thing...

cheers, purpleidea (talk) 21:19, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Does Francisco Franco belong here? And what about António de Oliveira Salazar? Cheers Bjenks (talk) 05:27, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't think they were ever proclaimed as such, and they weren't presidents in any case (Franco was regent and president of the government and Salazar was prime minister). —Sesel (talk) 13:50, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

Fair enough, they weren't Presidents, but neither were the Leader's given as examples of the Origin. I think all Leader's who changed the Law, or formed new Offices in order to put themselves in a position of perpetual leadership (whether it be Prime minister, Dictator, Chancelor etc) should be listed in the article. Proclamation and exact wording don't really affect the concept. - Jimmi Hugh (talk) 22:20, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Saddam Hussein

Pls also add Saddam Hussein. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.11.128.7 (talk) 16:50, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Pope's and Venezia

Can we consider Roman popes and dukes of Venezzia Republic in this category? They are elected for life, although the title is different. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.65.173.25 (talk) 07:57, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Monty Python Skit

I am sure I remember there being a hilarious line from a Monty Python skit along the lines of the title "President for Life often being tragically prophetic". Probably not fit for an encyclopedia, but particularly sage. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.247.163.112 (talk) 16:28, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Yuan Shikai shouldn't be here

Yuan Shikai was emperor of china and not a president. If Yuan Shikai is on this list then so should other monarchs —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.106.112.18 (talk) 20:45, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Actually Yuan Shikai was President of China, then self-declared emperor for a short time, and then once again president. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.26.72.143 (talk) 17:27, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

A new name to the list?

• Kazakh President Becomes Leader Of The Nation at Radio Free Europe’s website.--MaGioZal (talk) 13:11, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

File:Bokassa portrait.jpg Nominated for Deletion

An image used in this article, File:Bokassa portrait.jpg, has been nominated for deletion at Wikimedia Commons in the following category: Deletion requests February 2012 What should I do? Don't panic; a discussion will now take place over on Commons about whether to remove the file. This gives you an opportunity to contest the deletion, although please review Commons guidelines before doing so. If the image is non-free then you may need to upload it to Wikipedia (Commons does not allow fair use) If the image isn't freely licensed and there is no fair use rationale then it cannot be uploaded or used. This notification is provided by a Bot --CommonsNotificationBot (talk) 22:25, 9 February 2012 (UTC)