Hello American here. in America we only really have two examples of someone leaving the presidency and then coming back sometime later. that was being Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump. i'm just wondering, has this happened in your country too with your prime ministers or presidents? and how often and how many people?
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It has happened quite a few times in Belgium that prime ministers return after others got the job. There is no limit on how many times they can be one
Winston Churchill was, of course, Prime Minister during World War 2, and was replaced by Clement Atlee in the first election after the war. But perhaps less well known is that Churchill returned to power in the early 50s. He was obviously hugely popular and respected, but he was older and somewhat unwell by then, so he conducted a lot of government business from home, and invited the cabinet to him, rather than going to them.
Yes, it has happened over the years in Norway.
But we don’t have direct election on prime minister/president, so its not really the same.
Several British prime ministers have served non-consecutive terms. Most recently:
Winston Churchill 1940-1945, 1951-1955
Harold Wilson 1964-1970, 1974-1976
I think there were others in previous centuries but can’t be bothered to look them up.
Technically our prime minister (premier or minister-president) is the chairman of the council of ministers. In the 19th century, this chairmanship was just for 1 year and chosen between ministers; later the Ministry of General Affairs was set up for a specific person to be PM. During this period there were a lot of of repeat chairmen.
Governments are formed by coalition so it’s entirely possible to have, three governments of the same three parties work together but party b being a bit more popular than party a in the second election. We’ve also had resignations where older pms simply returned as caretakers.
In the interbellum, there were three: Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Colijn and De Geer.
Post WWII, only one: Louis Beel was PM from 1946-1948, then minority party member of four cabinets lead by Drees, and then when the last Drees cabinet fell he formed a new coalition government for half a year in 1958-1959, until new elections could be held.
There are no term limits for Federal Councillors. They usually get re-elected after four years unless they are too scandalous, but at the same time are expected to realise by themselves when it is time to go and step down at the next convenience. On the average, they stay for 10 years.
Not a single one has ever served non-consecutive terms.
We don’t really have terms as such, since the prime minister isn’t elected but is generally the party leader of the biggest party. If the party is the biggest in one election, isn’t in the next, but is again in the one after that it can happen that they’re prime minister twice for non-consecutive periods. It’s not super common in the modern period since party leaders are often replaced after heavy election losses. Most recently it happened with prime minister Louis Beel who was prime minister from 1946-1948 and again from 1958-1959. Though he wasn’t elected the second time but it was just a temporary cabinet until the new elections.
There were a couple in the interwar period though, even though it wasn’t called prime minister back then but “chairman of the council of ministers”. Like Dirk Jan de Geer, who held that position from 1926-1929 and again from 1939-1940. When he was sacked by the Queen because he though the allies were never going to win the war anyway so they should just give up, and she didn’t really like that. Also Hendrik Colijn who was prime minister from 1925-1926 and again from 1933-1939. And Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, who was prime minister from 1918-1925 and again from 1929-1933.
The first one was Johan Rudolph Thorbecke who was chairman from 1849-1853, again from 1862-1866, and again from 1871 to his death in 1872.
Edited a few times to add a few extra ones
It only happened once in Cyprus, under very special conditions (president deposed by a coup, later restored).
The political norm in Cyprus is that if you are the incumbent, you run for re-election and you fail to be re-elected for a second term, that’s it, you are expected to retire from the party leadership and take a back seat and let someone else restrengthen the party in time for the next election.
It has never happened for a former president to even attempt to run for a non-consecutive term. It would be considered extremely tone-deaf, since not managing to win a second consecutive term is seen as the ultimate sign of popular disapproval.
Yes, this has happened a lot of times. Looking at the post-WW1 prime ministers:
– Hjalmar Branting was PM for three short periods, 1920, 1921-1923, 1924-1925 being replaced for a few months in between.
– Carl Gustaf Ekman was PM 1926-1928 and again 1930-1932
– Per Albin Hansson was PM 1932-1936, was replaced for a few months, and then again 1936-1946
– Olof Palme was PM from 1969-1976 and again 1982-1986
– Thorbjörn Fälldin was PM from 1976-1978 and again 1979-1982, being replaced for barely a year in between.
– Ingvar Carlsson was PM from 1986-1991 and again 1994-1996
Also special mention to Carl Bildt, who was PM from 1991-1994 but made a comeback as foreign minister from 2006-2014.
In Poland, we had multiple times when one person took prime minister’s position two or more times. In the 1920s Wincenty Witos was prime minister three times, and Kazimierz Bartel even five times(some of them consecutive, some not). In recent times, the returning prime minister is Donald Tusk, after taking a break to take seat of the President of the European Council.
Orbán was prime minister from 1998 to 2002. Back then he was very much pro-NATO and pro-EU.
His second term started in 2010 and he’s still in office since then.
No, our presidents are very consistent.
Since the 20s almost every president had their two consecutive terms. Only three exceptions: two died in their first term, only one was not reelected for their second term, because he turned out to have Nazi history.
Happened a few times in Sweden. The modern office of the Prime Minister has existed since 1876, and multiple PMs have had non-consecutive terms. Two PMs had non-consecutive terms over a hundred years ago, then Hjalmar Branting had three non-consecutive terms between 1920 and 1925. Branting is still well known as he was the first social democrat to be PM so in some ways he’s the starting point for modern Swedish governments.
Per Albin Hansson, who was PM in 1932-1946, leading Sweden through WW2 and introducing the welfare state, technically had non-consecutive terms as there was a different government for three months in 1936.
Thorbjörn Fälldin, a centrist who became PM after 40+ years of social-democratic rule, had two non-consecutive terms.
Most recently, Ingvar Carlsson served non-consecutive terms. He was appointed PM in 1986 following Olof Palme’s murder so he served for two years of Palme’s term, then won an election and continued until 1991, later returning to the office in 1994.
So this is nothing unusual for Swedish politics. It’s perfectly plausible for it to happen again – the previous PM was Magdalena Andersson and she currently leads the opposition and is likely to still be the leader when there’s an election next year, so she could be yet another PM to return to office.
Kings:
Athelred the Unready: 978 – 1013 (replaced by Sweyn Forkbeard), 1014 – 1016
Henry VI: 1422 – 1461 (replaced by Edward IV), 1470 – 1471
Edward IV: 1461 – 1470 (replaced by a restored Henry VI), 1471 – 1483
—-
Prime Ministers:
Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle: 1754 – 1756, 1757 – 1762
Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham: 1765 – 1766, 27th March 1782 – 1st July 1782
William Cavendish-Bentinck, Duke of Portland: 2nd April 1783 – 18th December 1783, 1807 – 1809
William Pitt the Younger: 1783 – 1801, 1804 – 1806
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington: 1828 – 1830, 17th November 1834 – 9th December 1834
William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne: 16th July 1834 – 14th November 1834, 1835 – 1841
Robert Peel: 1834 – 1835, 1841 – 1846
John Russell: 1846 – 1852, 1865 – 1866
Edward Smith-Stanley, Earl of Derby: 23rd February 1852 – 17th December 1852, 1858 – 1859, 1866 – 1868
Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston: 1855 – 1858, 1859 – 1865
Benjamin Disraeli: 27th February 1868 – 1st December 1868, 1874 – 1880
William Ewart Gladstone: 1868 – 1874, 1880 – 1885, 1st February 1886 – 21st July 1886, 1892 – 1894
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury: 1885 – 1886, 1886 – 1892, 1895 – 1902
Stanley Baldwin: 1923 – 1924, 1924 – 1929, 1935 – 1937
Ramsay MacDonald: 22nd January 1924 – 4th November 1924, 1929 – 1935
Winston Churchill: 1940 – 1945, 1951 – 1955
Harold Wilson: 1964 – 1970, 1974 – 1976
u/xetal1 replied with a very good list of Swedish prime ministers.
The big difference from US presidential elections is, similar to what someone from the Netherlands said, these prime ministers aren’t elected directly by the people. What happens after the election is the speaker of parliament asks the leader of the biggest party to try to form a government that the parliament will accept (and because we’re a multi party, as opposed to two party, democracy where a single party rarely gets a majority, that almost always mean they have to form some sort of coalition government with smaller parties). If he or she succeeds, they become prime minister. If they fail, the speaker will ask the leader of the second biggest party to try to form a government.
Currently our prime minister is the leader of the second biggest party, because he was able to form a bigger coalition than the leader of the biggest party.
Fun fact: The prime ministerial candidate doesn’t need a majority of parliament to vote _for_ his government, he only needs to not have a majority _against_ him.
In the UK, we had many PMs do non consecutive terms. These are:
Thomas Pelham-Holles (1754-1756; 1757-1762)
Charles Watson-Wentworth (1765-1766; 1782-1782)
William Pitt the younger (1783-1801; 1804-1806)
Willam Cavendish-Bentinck (1783-1783; 1807-1809)
Willam Lamb (1834-1834 ; 1835-1841)
Robert Peel (1834-1835; 1841-1846)
Edward Smith-Stanley (1852-1852; 1858-1859; 1866-1868)
Henry John Temple (1855-1858; 1859-1865)
Benjamin Disraeli (1868-1868; 1874-1880 )
William Ewart Gladstone (1868-1874; 1880-1885; 1886-1886; 1892-1894)
Rober Gascoyne-Cecil (1885-1886; 1886-1892; 1895-1902)
Stanley Baldwin (1923-1924; 1924-1929; 1935-1937)
Ramsay Mcdonald (1924-1924; 1929-1935)
Winston Churchill (1940-1945; 1951-1955)
Harold Wilson (1964-1970; 1974-1976)
There haven’t been any presidents who have served nonconsecutive terms. Only two presidents stood for nonconsecutive presidential elections. K. J Ståhlberg, who was the first president of Finland in 1919-1925, stood for election in 1931, 1937 and 1946. P. E. Svinhufvud, who was the third president of Finland in 1931-1937, stood for election in 1940. Ståhlberg is also the only president to serve as a member of parliament after his presidency, in 1930-1933.
If I counted correctly, there have been 16 prime ministers who served nonconsecutive terms. It was more the rule than exception for governments to be short-lived. This was the result of the president having very broad powers. Governments and prime ministers changed back and forth quite regularly. This was the case up until the 80s when Kalevi Sorsa served his third and fourth terms in 1982-1983 and 1983-1987 after serving his first and second term in 1972-1975 and 1977-1979 respectively. Powers of the president were weakened while powers of the parliament and the prime minister were strengthened from the 80s onwards. There haven’t been any prime ministers who have served nonconsecutive terms after the 80s.
haha, our constitution allows some dirty tricks with nonconsecutive terms. There were written “no more then two terms in a row”.
2000-2004, 2004-2008 Putin
2008-2012 Medvedev. Here term is increased from 4 years to 6
2012-2018, 2018-2024 Putin. In 2020 they say – ok, you don’t like “in a row” part, let remove it. Wow, great, does it mean that putin will not go for 5-th term? No, it means that his terms are “reset”. New constitution, new terms,
so 2024-2030 also Putin
It happened quite a lot of times during both the Republican history.
The first one was Amintore Fanfani with 5 nonconsecutive terms (Fanfani I 19 Jan. 1954 – 10 Feb. 1954; Fanfani II 2 July 1958 – 16 Feb. 1959; Fanfani III-IV 27 July 1960 – 22 June 1963; Fanfani V 1 Dec. 1982 – 4 Aug. 1983; Fanfani VI 18 April 1987 – 29 July 1987)
Antonio Segni with 2 (Segni I 6 July 1955 – 20 May 1957; Segni II 16 Feb. 1959 – 26 Mar. 1960)
Giovanni Leone also 2 (Leone I 22 June 1963 – 5 Dec. 1963; Leone II 25 June 1968 – 13 Dec. 1968)
Mariano Rumor got 3 consecutive terms the first time (Rumor I-II-III 13 Dec. 1968 – 6 Aug. 1970) and 2 others three years later (Rumor IV-V 8 July 1973 – 23 Nov. 1974)
Aldo Moro similarly got 3 consecutive terms the first time (Moro I-II-III 5 Dec. 1963 – 25 June 1968) and 2 others three years later (Moro IV-V 24 Nov. 1974 – 30 July 1976)
Giulio Andreotti with 3 nonconsecutive groups of consecutive terms (sounds strange to say) (Andreotti I-II 18 Feb. 1972 – 8 July 1973; Andreotti III-IV-V 30 July 1976 – 5 Aug. 1979 and Andreotti VI-VII 23 July 1989 – 28 June 1992)
Giuliano Amato 2 nonconsecutive terms (Amato I 28 June 1992 – 29 April 1993; Amato II 26 April 2000 – 11 June 2001)
Silvio Berlusconi 3 terms (Berlusconi I 11 May 1994 – 17 Jan. 1995; Berlusconi II-III 11 June 2001 – 17 May 2006; Berlusconi IV 8 May 2008 – 16 Nov. 2011)
the last one was Romano Prodi with 2 terms (Prodi I 18 May 1996 – 21 Oct. 1998; Prodi II 17 May 2006 – 8 May 2008)
Going further back during the Kingdom’s time there’s more of these:
Bettino Ricasoli, Urbano Rattazzi, Marco Minghetti, Benedetto Cairoli, Francesco Crispi, Antonio Starabba De Rudinì, Sidney Sonnino and Ivanoe Bonomi had each of them 2 nonconsecutive terms (some of them led 2 or more consecutive terms while in power)
Agostino Depretis had 3 nonconsecutive terms
Giovanni Giolitti got 5 terms
Yes. Robert Fico was PM from 2006 to 2010, then again from 2012 to 2018 and now he’s PM again since 2023.
In France, we can count Charles de Gaulle who was provisional head of state between 1944 and 1946 and then president from 1959 to 1969.
And of course, both Napoleon and Louis XVIII served non-consecutive terms!
As chief of government, during the Fifth republic Chirac served twice (1974-76 and 1986-88), the same happened much more during the Third and the Fourth republics.
Yes, in Ireland it has happened many times. Ireland has one right now, Micheál Martin.
Most of Europe uses a parliamentary system (or, if they’re feeling spicy, a semi-presidential system), so term limits for prime minister usually don’t exist. Most Prime Ministers are there because they have the confidence of the Legislature/Political Party.
A list of Non-consecutive taoisigh.
* Eamon De Valera, 1932-48; 1951-54; 1957-69. (The architect of the current Irish Political System)
* John A. Costello, 1948-51; 1954-57 (Filled in the gaps for De Valera’s tenure)
* Jack Lynch, 1966-73; 1977-79 (The last Taoiseach to win a majority outright.)
* Charlie Haughey, 1979-81; 1982; 1987-92 (An immensely corrupt man)
* Garret FitzGerald, 1981-82; 1982-87. (An intellectual, big rivals with Haughey)
* Leo Varadkar, 2017-2020; 2022-24 (1st LGBT leader of Ireland.)
* Micheál Martin, 2020-2022; 2025-Present (Current Taoiseach)
We might have another one in the future, Simon Harris, who was Taoiseach for less than a year after Varadkar retired.
In the negotiations for this government, they agreed to have a rotating Taoiseach. Martin will have 3 years; Simon Harris will have 2.
We don’t have your kind of presidents. The Statsminister in my country is more like a head chairman/woman and leads a board of elected people, heads of departments and all. We have that person come and go but they’re not that significant, it’s always up to the parliament. We have a true democracy and not a three legged bar stool of a power balance.