World’s presidential elections in 2025

The year began with a decision finally being made in Lebanon. On January 9, the indirect elections that started at the end of Michel Aoun’s presidency in September 2022 finally ended after 13 failed parliamentary sessions, with the win of Joseph Aoun. The commander of the national armed forces received 99 votes in Parliament and kept both roles¹. Days later President Zoran Milanovic was re-elected in Croatia for a second term with more than 74% of the vote. He is commonly considered a Putin’s puppet and has repeatedly stated he would never approve Croatian presence in any Nato mission in Ukraine. He has a critical relationship with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who refused to congratulate him. The main opponent was Dragan Primorac from the Croatian Democratic Union HDC who got the worst result ever for a country’s presidential election – 25%². 

The month concluded with a non-surprising win of President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus with over 87% of the vote. His government has continued since 1994. Although there were four other candidates, including the formally independent Hanna Kanapatskaya, the elections have been publicly denounced as neither fair nor free, as independent media were either closed down or forced to operate from abroad³.

In February, Greece elected Konstantinos Tasoulas, a lawyer from the New Democracy Party (ND) after three failed rounds of voting. He will succeed the first woman to hold the supreme office, Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou, who was criticised for her progressive stances on LGBTQI+ and refugee rights, as well as her inaction regarding violations of the rule of law by the government⁴.

March saw the conclusion of a much debated election in Abkhazia, an independent entity recognized only by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru. Following mass protests against Russia made President Aslan Bzhania in November, at the second round of voting Badra Gunba was elected with 56% of the vote. He has also close ties with the Russian government too, often shown during the campaign. In the run-off, he faced Adgur Ardzinba, who was critical to the Russian-backed economic policies despite his close ties. Georgia’s foreign minister and the European Union condemned the international relations’ ongoing violations⁵. In April, Gabon elected the first president since the Bongo dynasty was overthrown in a coup in 2023. Omar Bongo Ondimba and his son Ali had been in power since 1967, making them two of the continent’s longest-serving leaders. Military leader Brice Oligui Nguema, who held the cup, won with around 90% of the vote. During his first two years of temporary power, he achieved several diplomatic milestones, such as the opening of new embassies, including the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, potential problems with the counting of the votes were warned⁶.

In May the National Assembly of Togo elected President Faure Gnassingbè, extending his 20-year hold on power and perpetuating the family dynasty that has ruled the country for 58 years. In March 2024 the constitution was changed to eliminate citizens’ right to vote directly for the country’s leader, facilitating his path. Irregularities have been registered, as in past elections⁷. 

More democratically, Romania followed the Constitutional Court decision in December to invalidate last year’s elections because of suspicions of Russian interference during the campaign and elected independent mathematician Nicusor Dan and former Bucharest mayor, with 53.60% of the vote. He is a pro-European reformer, he denounces corruption and advocates a more honest, democratic and western Romania⁸.

June began with two elections. On June 1, Poland elected independent conservative Karol Nawrock with 50.9% of the vote; he has criticised the EU and NATO. His election is quite important since the huge role of the President in the national political framework, which provides him the power to block ministers’ agenda backed by the majority of the Parliament (which is not currently aligned with the government)⁹. 

On June 3, South Korea’s elections, triggered by the impeachment of former president Yoon Suk-Yeol in December, registered the highest turnout since 1997, with 44.4 million eligible voters cast ballots and the winning of Democrat lawyer Lee Jae-myung, with more than 48% of the vote¹⁰. 

Summer passed and October became a quite busy month. The 12th 92-years old President Paul Biya was re-elected in Cameron with 53.7% of the vote for the eight consecutive term. He’s the oldest head of state of the world. Other candidates warned about a tainted result and several protests have been registered¹¹. 

On the 19th, Northern Cyprus voted centrist lawyer Tufan Erhurman with 62.76% of the votes, who centered his campaign on federal reunification with Greek Cypriots¹².

On the 24th, Ireland elected leftist independent Catherine Connolly, who got the highest result ever received (63%) and became the third woman to occupy the charge. Heather Humphreys was the only other candidate; the last time there were only two candidates was in 1973¹³. 

The following day, Ivory Coast’s 83-years old President Alassane Outtara won the fourth term with around 80% of the vote. Sporadic protests have been registered¹⁴. 

November saw much discussion surrounding Chile’s new President, the conservative José Antonio Kast, son of an escaped Nazi member. He won with the second highest result in the democracy era –  58% of the vote¹⁵. 

Republika Srpska, one of the two main entities within Bosnia Herzegovina, elected Sinisa Karan with 50.89%, ally of former Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik¹⁶.

The year ended with the first elections to be held in Guinea since the 2021 coup. Just days before the end of the moon cycle, military leader Mamady Doumbouya secured the position with 86.72% of the vote, after four years of temporary power. Civil society groups accuse authorities of severely restricted election campaigns¹⁷.

1.  ISPI, “Lebanon finally has a president: they way ahead”, 10 January 2025, https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/lebanon-finally-has-a-president-the-way-ahead-196520 ↩︎
2.  Balkan insight, V. Tesijia, “Croatian President Zoran Milanovic wins second term in landslide victory”, 13 January 2025, https://balkaninsight.com/2025/01/13/croatian-president-zoran-milanovic-wins-second-term-in-landslide-victory/ ↩︎
3.  Aljazeera, “Alexander Lukashenko wins seventh straight term in sham Belarus election”, 27 January 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/27/alexander-lukashenko-wins-seventh-straight-term-in-sham-belarus-election ↩︎
4.  Foundation Robert Schuman, C. Deloy, “Konstantinos Tasoulas is elected president of Greece”, 18 february 2025, https://www.robert-schuman.eu/en/monitor/6474-konstantinos-tasoulas-is-elected-president-of-greece ↩︎
5.  Reuters, F. Light, “Breakway Abkhazia’s acting leader wins presidential election, state media says”, 3 March 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/breakaway-abkhazias-acting-leader-wins-presidential-election-state-media-says-2025-03-02/ ↩︎
6.  Aljazeera, “Gabon military leader Brice Oligui Mguema wins presidential election”, 13 April 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/13/gabon-military-leader-brice-oligui-nguema-wins-presidential-election ↩︎
7.  Aljazeera, “Togo votes in local elections amid outburst of public anger: what to know”, 17 July 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/17/togo-votes-in-local-elections-amid-outburst-of-public-anger-what-to-know ↩︎
8.  Foundation Robert Schuman, C. Deloy, “Nicosur Dan wins the presidential election in Romania”, 20 May 2025, https://www.robert-schuman.eu/en/monitor/6566-nicusor-dan-wins-the-presidential-election-in-romania ↩︎
9.  Foundation Robert Schuman, C. Deloy, “Karol Nawrocki wins the presidential election in Poland by a hair’s breadth”, 3 June 2025, https://www.robert-schuman.eu/en/monitor/6579-karol-nawrocki-wins-the-presidential-election-in-poland-by-a-hair-s-breadth ↩︎
10.  Aljazeera, “South Korea election results 2025: who won, who lost, what’s next?”, 3 June 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/3/south-korea-election-results-2025-who-won-who-lost-whats-next ↩︎
11.  Aljazeera, Y. Sharma, “Biya declared victor of Cameroon election: why deadly protests broke out”, 27 October 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/27/biya-declared-victor-of-cameroon-election-why-deadly-protests-broke-out ↩︎
12.  Aljazeera, “Turkish Cypriots elect Tufan Erhurman in northern Cyprus polls”, 19 October 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/19/turkish-cypriots-elect-tufan-erhurman-in-northern-cyprus-polls ↩︎
13.  Foundation Robert Schuman, C. Deloy, “Catherine Connolly wins the Irish presidential election”, 28 October 2025, https://www.robert-schuman.eu/en/monitor/6649-catherine-connolly-wins-the-irish-presidential-election ↩︎
14.  Aljazeera, “incumbent President Ouattara declared winner of Ivory Coast election”, 27 October 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/27/incumbent-president-ouattara-declared-winner-of-ivory-coast-election ↩︎
15.  Aljazeera, “far right candidate Kast takes early lead in Chile’s presidential election”, 14 December 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/14/kast-vs-jara-chile-votes-in-polarising-presidential-run-off ↩︎
16.  ISPI, N. Xaviereff, “Republika Srpska secession stalls: snap elections and the US policy reshape towards Bosnia”, 20 November 2025, https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/republika-srpska-secession-stalls-snap-elections-and-the-us-policy-reshape-towards-bosnia-223249 ↩︎
17.  Aljazeera, “Guinea coup leader Mamady Doumbouya wins presidential election”, 30 December 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/30/guinea-coup-leader-mamdi-doumbouya-wins-presidential-election ↩︎