List of countries by date of uninterrupted peaceful transfer of power
This is a list of countries by date of their first peaceful, election-based transfer of political power (uninterrupted to the present) of the premier from one political party to another. The Revolution of 1800 in the United States of America is often credited as the first such moment of its kind.
Country |
Uninterrupted peaceful transfers of power since |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
United States |
March 4, 1801 |
This is referred to as the Revolution of 1800. |
United Kingdom |
November 22, 1830 |
Earl Grey takes office. |
Canada |
November 7, 1873 |
Alexander Mackenzie takes office. |
Switzerland |
December 17, 1891 |
Josef Zemp takes office. |
Australia |
April 29, 1910 |
Andrew Fisher takes office. |
Ireland |
March 9, 1932 |
Éamon de Valera replaces W.T. Cosgrave. |
France |
June 24, 1946 |
Georges Bidault takes office. |
Italy |
June 2, 1946 |
A universal suffrage vote elects Alcide De Gasperi as first prime minister of the newborn Italian Republic. |
Japan |
May 24, 1947 |
Tetsu Katayama takes office. |
Netherlands |
August 7, 1948 |
Willem Drees becomes the prime minister. |
Belgium |
August 11, 1949 |
Gaston Eyskens replaces Paul-Henri Spaak. |
Costa Rica |
May 8, 1953 |
Jose Figueres Ferrer replaces Otilio Ulate Blanco. |
Germany |
October 21, 1969 |
This is the election of Willy Brandt. For East Germans, the first peaceful transfer of power was the election of Gerhard Schröder, who took office October 27, 1998. |
Austria |
April 21, 1970 |
Bruno Kreisky takes office. |
Luxembourg |
June 15, 1974 |
Gaston Thorn becomes prime minister. |
India |
March 24, 1977 |
Morarji Desai of the Janata Party becomes prime minister, ending decades of Indian National Congress rule. |
Israel |
June 21, 1977 |
The right-wing Likud party ends three decades of left-wing rule. |
Dominican Republic |
August 16, 1978 |
Antonio Guzmán Fernández replaces Joaquín Balaguer. |
Spain |
December 1, 1982 |
The Spanish general election of 1982 marks the first post-Franco peaceful transfer of power. |
Portugal |
March 9, 1986 |
Mário Soares takes office. |
El Salvador |
June 1, 1989 |
Alfredo Cristiani is elected. |
Argentina |
July 8, 1989 |
Carlos Menem is elected. |
Guatemala |
January 14, 1991 |
Jorge Serrano Elías replaces Vinicio Cerezo. |
Turkey |
November 20, 1991 |
Süleyman Demirel replaces Mesut Yılmaz. |
Brazil |
January 1, 1995 |
Fernando Henrique Cardoso takes office. |
Poland |
December 23, 1995 |
Aleksander Kwaśniewski replaces Lech Walesa. |
South Korea |
February 25, 1998 |
Kim Dae-Jung is elected president. |
Mexico |
December 1, 2000 |
Vicente Fox ends 71 years of uninterrupted rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party. |
Ecuador |
January 15, 2007 |
Rafael Correa is elected. |
Greenland |
June 12, 2009 |
Kuupik Kleist takes office. |
Chile |
March 11, 2010 |
Concertacion candidates won every election from the 1990 end of military rule until the election of Sebastián Piñera. |
Philippines |
June 30, 2010 |
Benigno Aquino III takes office. |
Haiti |
May 14, 2011 |
Michel Martelly replaces Rene Preval. |
Indonesia |
October 20, 2014 |
Joko Widodo takes office. |
Countries without uninterrupted, election-based peaceful transfers of power
Country |
Last government change |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
Bahrain |
1783 |
The ruling Al Khalifa family begins its reign of uninterrupted control. |
Saudi Arabia |
August 14, 1932 |
The King of Saudi Arabia takes power. |
North Korea |
September 9, 1948 |
The Workers' Party of Korea has maintained uninterrupted rule. |
China |
October 1, 1949 |
The People's Republic of China is established. |
Morocco |
March 2, 1956 |
Morocco achieves independence from France. |
Malaysia |
August 31, 1957 |
Malaysian leaders have come from the same political party since the country's independence. |
Cuba |
January 1, 1959 |
Fulgencio Batista is overthrown. |
Algeria |
July 3, 1962 |
A succession of military leaders and puppets have ruled since the country has gained independence from France. |
Syria |
March 12, 1971 |
The al-Assad family seizes power in a coup d'état. |
Vietnam |
July 2, 1976 |
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is founded. |
Iran |
February 11, 1979 |
The Shah of Iran is overthrown and only two Supreme Leaders have ruled since. |
Zimbabwe |
December 12, 1979 |
The Rhodesian Bush War ends and Robert Mugabe becomes president. |
Cameroon |
November 6, 1982 |
Paul Biya takes control, as Ahmadou Ahidjo goes into exile. |
Russia |
July 10, 1991 |
The Soviet Union falls, and Boris Yeltsin becomes president. A series of anointed successors have replaced him in succession. |
Iraq |
April 9, 2003 |
The Iraq War results in the removal of Saddam Hussein. |
Bolivia |
June 6, 2005 |
The Bolivian gas war culminates in the resignation of the president. |
Honduras |
June 28, 2009 |
Manuel Zelaya is removed in a coup d'état. |
Niger |
February 18, 2010 |
Mahamadou Issoufou becomes president after a coup d'état. |
Tunisia |
January 14, 2011 |
The Tunisian revolution culminates in the ouster of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. |
Libya |
August 23, 2011 |
The Libyan Civil War occurs in 2011. |
Yemen |
February 27, 2012 |
Ali Abdullah Saleh is ousted. |
Paraguay |
June 22, 2012 |
Fernando Lugo is replaced in a "parliamentary coup." |
Egypt |
July 3, 2013 |
An Egyptian coup d'état removes President Mohamed Morsi. |
Ukraine |
February 22, 2014 |
Viktor Yanukovych is ousted. |
Thailand |
May 22, 2014 |
Thailand overthrows its leader. |