Term limits in the United States
In the context of the politics of the United States, term limits restrict the number of terms of office an officeholder may serve. At the federal level, the president of the United States can serve a maximum of two four-year terms, with this being limited by the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution that came into force on February 27, 1951. Some state government offices are also term-limited, including executive, legislative, and judicial offices. Analogous measures exist at the city and county level across the U.S., though many details involving local governments in that country vary depending on the specific location.
Term limits are also referred to as rotation in office. That specific terminology is often associated with the Founding Father and later president Thomas Jefferson given his use of it in his political arguments.
Historical background.
Constitution.
Term limits date back to the American Revolution and prior to that, to the democracies and republics of antiquity. The Council of 500 in ancient Athens rotated its entire membership annually, as did the ephorate in ancient Sparta.
The ancient Roman Republic featured a system of elected magistrates — tribunes of the plebs, aediles, quaestors, praetors, and consuls — who served a single term of one year, with re-election to the same magistracy forbidden for ten years "(see cursus honorum)". According to historian Garrett Fagan, office holding in the Roman Republic was based on "limited tenure of office" which ensured that "authority circulated frequently", helping to prevent corruption. An additional benefit of the or "run of offices" was to bring the "most experienced" politicians to the upper echelons of power-holding in the ancient republic. Many of the founders of the United States were educated in the classics, and quite familiar with rotation in the office during antiquity. The debates of that day reveal a desire to study and profit from the object lessons offered by ancient democracy.
Prior to independence, several colonies had already experimented with term limits. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut of 1639, for example, prohibited the colonial governor from serving consecutive terms by setting terms at one year's length, and holding "that no person be chosen Governor above once in two years." Shortly after independence, the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 set maximum service in the Pennsylvania General Assembly at "four years in seven." Benjamin Franklin's influence is seen not only in that he chaired the constitutional convention which drafted the Pennsylvania constitution, but also because it included, virtually unchanged, Franklin's earlier proposals on executive rotation. Pennsylvania's plural executive was composed of twelve citizens elected for the term of three years, followed by a mandatory vacation of four years.
The Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1781, established term limits for the delegates of the Continental Congress, mandating in Article V that "no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six years."
On October 2, 1789, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of thirteen to examine forms of government for the impending union of the states. Among the proposals was that from the state of Virginia, written by Thomas Jefferson, urging a limitation of tenure, "to prevent every danger which might arise to American freedom by continuing too long in office the members of the Continental Congress." The committee made recommendations, which as regards congressional term limits were incorporated unchanged into the Articles of Confederation (1781–1789). The fifth Article stated that "no person shall be capable of being a delegate [to the continental congress] for more than three years in any term of six years."
Term limits in the Constitution.
In contrast to the Articles of Confederation, the federal constitution convention at Philadelphia omitted mandatory term limits from the U.S. Constitution of 1789. At the convention, some delegates spoke passionately against term limits such as Rufus King, who said "that he who has proved himself to be most fit for an Office, ought not to be excluded by the constitution from holding it." The Electoral College, it was believed by some delegates at the convention, could have a role to play in limiting unfit officers from continuing.
When the states ratified the Constitution (1787–1788), several leading statesmen regarded the lack of mandatory limits to tenure as a dangerous defect, especially, they thought, as regards the presidency and the Senate. Richard Henry Lee viewed the absence of legal limits to tenure, together with certain other features of the Constitution, as "most highly and dangerously oligarchic." Both Jefferson and George Mason advised limits on re-election to the Senate and to the Presidency, because, said Mason, "nothing is so essential to the preservation of a Republican government as a periodic rotation." The historian Mercy Otis Warren warned that "there is no provision for a rotation, nor anything to prevent the perpetuity of office in the same hands for life; which by a little well-timed bribery, will probably be done."
Presidential term limits 1789–1952.
 says George Washington did not set the informal precedent for a two-term limit for the Presidency. He only meant he was too worn out to personally continue in office. It was Thomas Jefferson who made it a principle in 1808. He made many statements calling for term limits in one form or another.
The two-term limit tradition was maintained unofficially for 132 years. It was unsuccessfully challenged by Ulysses Grant in 1880, Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, and Woodrow Wilson in 1920. Franklin D. Roosevelt successfully ran for a third term in 1940, citing the outbreak of World War II. The two Roosevelts are the only presidents to run for a third term in a general election; Grant and Wilson aimed to do so but failed to gain their parties' nominations. Franklin Roosevelt was re-elected in 1944 for a fourth term amidst the United States' engagement in World War II but died shortly afterwards in office. The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1951, formally establishing in law the two-term limit—although it did not apply to the incumbent Harry S. Truman, Franklin Roosevelt's successor. Truman declined to run for a third term in 1952.
The fact that "perpetuity in office" was not approached until the 20th century is due in part to the influence of rotation in office as a popular 19th-century concept. "Ideas are, in truth, forces," and rotation in office enjoyed such normative support, especially at the local level, that it altered political reality.
During the Civil War, the Constitution of the Confederate States limited its president to a single six-year term. Only Jefferson Davis served as Confederate president, but he did not complete a full term in office before surrendering to the Union.
Era of incumbency.
The practice of nomination rotation for the House of Representatives began to decline after the Civil War. It took a generation or so before the direct primary system, civil service reforms, and the ethic of professionalism worked to eliminate rotation in office as a common political practice. By the turn of the 20th century the era of incumbency was coming into full swing.
A total of eight presidents served two full terms and declined a third. Three presidents served one full term and refused a second. After World War II, however, an officeholder class had developed to the point that congressional tenure rivaled that of the U.S. Supreme Court, where tenure is for life.
Term limits movement.
A movement in favor of term limits took hold in the early 1990s, and reached its apex in 1992 to 1994, a period when seventeen states enacted term limits through state legislation or state constitutional amendments.
Many of the laws enacted limited terms for both the state legislature and in the state's delegation to Congress. As they pertain to Congress, these laws were struck down as unconstitutional by U.S. Supreme Court in "U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton" (1995), in which the court ruled, on a 5–4 vote, that state governments cannot limit the terms of members of the national government.
Where rotation in the legislative branch has withstood court challenges, term limits continue to garner popular support. As of 2002, the advocacy group "U.S. Term Limits" found that in the seventeen states where state legislators served in rotation, public support for term limits ranged from 60 to 78 percent.
Federal term limits.
Term limits at the federal level are restricted to the executive branch and some agencies. Judicial appointments at the federal level are made for life and are not subject to election or to term limits. The U.S. Congress remains (since the "Thornton" decision of 1995) without electoral limits.
President.
George Washington's decision in 1796 not to run for a third term has often been given credit as the start of a tradition that no president should ever run for a third term. Washington wanted to retire when his first term ended in 1792, but all his advisors begged him to stand for re-election. By 1796, however, he insisted on retiring, as he felt exhausted and disgusted by virulent personal attacks on his integrity. His Farewell Address very briefly mentioned why he would not run for a third term and goes on to give a great deal of political advice, but it does not mention term limits. After his death, his refusal to run was explained in terms of a "no-third-tradition." argues, "The argument for term limits has a solid and respectable pedigree. Contrary to popular belief, however, that pedigree does not begin with George Washington." The second president, John Adams, lost re-election in 1800 to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson himself declined re-election to a third term, attributing the precedent to Washington.
In the 1780s, about half the states provided term limits for governors. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 discussed the issue and decided not to institute presidential term limits. "The matter was fairly discussed in the Convention," Washington wrote in 1788, "and to my full convictions <...> I can see no propriety in precluding ourselves from the services of any man, who on some great emergency shall be deemed universally, most capable of serving the Public," even after serving two terms. The Constitution, Washington explained, retained sufficient checks against political corruption and stagnant leadership without a presidential term limits provision. Jefferson, however, strongly endorsed a policy of term limits. He rejected calls from supporters that he run for a third term in 1808, telling several state legislatures in 1807-1808 that he needed to support "the sound precedent set by [his] illustrious predecessor."
In 1861, the Confederate States of America adopted a six-year term for their president and vice president and barred the president from seeking re-election. That innovation was endorsed by many American politicians after the Civil War, most notably by Rutherford B. Hayes in his inaugural address. Ulysses Grant was urged to run for a third term in 1876, but he refused. He did try to win the 1880 nomination but was defeated in part because of popular anti-third-term sentiment. Theodore Roosevelt had already served over seven years and in 1912, after a four-year hiatus, ran for a third term. He was criticized for doing so, and attempted assassin John Schrank stated that his motivation for shooting Roosevelt was preventing a third term. The 1912 election was ultimately won by Woodrow Wilson.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (president, 1933–1945) was the only president to be elected more than twice, having won a third term in 1940 and a fourth term in 1944 (though he died in office three months into his fourth term). This gave rise to a successful move to formalize the traditional two-term limit by amending the U.S. Constitution. As ratified in 1951, the Twenty-Second Amendment provides that "no person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice." The new amendment explicitly did not apply to the incumbent president, Harry S. Truman. However, Truman declined to seek re-election to a third term in 1952.
Congress.
Reformers during the early 1990s used the initiative and referendum to put congressional term limits on the ballot in 24 states. Voters in eight of these states approved the congressional term limits by an average electoral margin of two to one. It was an open question whether states had the constitutional authority to enact these limits. In May 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in "U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton", 514 U.S. 779 (1995), that states cannot impose term limits upon their federal representatives or senators.
In the 1994 U.S. elections, part of the "Contract With America" Republican platform included legislation for term limits in Congress. After winning the majority, a Republican congressman brought a constitutional amendment to the House floor that proposed limiting members of the Senate to two six-year terms and members of the House to six two-year terms. However, this rate of rotation was so slow (the life-tenured Supreme Court averages about 16 years) that the congressional version of term limits garnered little support among the populist backers of term limits, including U.S. Term Limits, the largest private organization pushing for congressional term limits. The bill got only a bare majority (227–204), falling short of the two-thirds majority (290) needed for constitutional amendments. Three other term limit amendment bills failed to get more than 200 votes.
Defeated in Congress and overridden by the Supreme Court, the federal term limit movement was brought to a halt. The term limits intended simultaneously to reform state legislatures (as distinguished from the federal congressional delegations) remain in force, however, in fifteen states.
In 2007, Larry J. Sabato revived the debate over term limits by arguing in "A More Perfect Constitution" that the success and popularity of term limits at the state level suggests that they should be adopted at the federal level as well. He specifically put forth the idea of congressional term limits and suggested a national constitutional convention be used to accomplish the amendment, since the Congress would be unlikely to propose and adopt any amendment that limits its own power.
Some state legislators have also expressed their opinions on term limits. It is confirmed that in the following five states—and there may be others—state lawmakers approved resolutions asking Congress to propose a federal constitutional amendment to limit the number of terms which members of Congress may serve:
Supreme Court.
Legal scholars have discussed whether or not to impose term limits on the Supreme Court of the United States. Currently, Supreme Court justices are appointed for life "during good behavior." A sentiment has developed, among certain scholars, that the Supreme Court may not be accountable in a way that is most in line with the spirit of checks and balances. Equally, scholars have argued that life tenure has taken on a new meaning in a modern context. Changes in medical care have markedly raised life expectancy and therefore have allowed justices to serve for longer than ever before. Steven G. Calabresi and James Lindgren, professors of law at Northwestern University, argued that because vacancies in the court are occurring with less frequency and justices served on average 26.1 years between 1971 and 2006, the "efficacy of the democratic check that the appointment process provides on the Court's membership" is reduced. There have been several similar proposals to implement term limits for the nation's highest court, including Professor of Law at Duke University Paul Carrington's "Supreme Court Renewal Act of 2005."
Many of the proposals center around a term limit for justices that would be 10, 18 years to 25 years in length. (Larry Sabato, Professor of Political Science at the University of Virginia, suggested between 15 and 18 years.) The staggered term limits of 18 years proposed by and would allow for a new appointment to the Court every two years, which in effect would allow every president at least two appointments. Carrington has argued that such a measure would not require a constitutional amendment as the "Constitution doesn't even mention life tenure; it merely requires that justices serve during 'good behavior'." The idea was endorsed among Judges, as John Roberts supported term limits before he was appointed to the Supreme Court as chief justice. Calabresi, Lindgren, and Carrington have also proposed that when justices have served out their proposed 18-year term they should be able to sit on other Federal Courts until retirement, death, or removal.
Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind Poll measured American voters' attitudes towards various proposed Supreme Court reforms, including implementing term limits. The 2010 poll found that a majority of Americans were largely unaware of a proposal to impose a term limit of 18 years, as 82% reported they had heard little or nothing at all. Notwithstanding a lack of awareness, 52% of Americans approved of limiting terms to 18 years, while 35% disapproved. When asked how old is too old for a Supreme Court judge to serve if he seems healthy, 48% said "no limit as long as he is healthy", while 31% agreed that anyone over the age of 70 is too old.
Some state lawmakers have officially expressed to Congress a desire for a federal constitutional amendment to limit terms of Supreme Court justices as well as of judges of federal courts below the Supreme Court level. While there might be others, below are three known examples:
State term limits.
Term limits for state officials have existed since colonial times. The Pennsylvania Charter of Liberties of 1682, and the colonial frame of government of the same year, both authored by William Penn, provided for triennial rotation of the provincial council—the upper house of the colonial legislature. The Delaware Constitution of 1776 limited the governor to a single three-year term; currently, the governor of Delaware can serve two four-year terms.
Gubernatorial term limits.
Governors of 37 states and 4 territories are subject to various term limits, while the governors of 13 states, Puerto Rico, and the mayor of Washington, D.C., may serve an unlimited number of terms. Each state's gubernatorial term limits are prescribed by its state constitution, with the exception of Wyoming, whose limits are found in its statutes. Territorial term limits are prescribed by its constitution in the Northern Mariana Islands, the Organic Acts in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and by statute in American Samoa.
Uniquely, Virginia prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms, although former governors are eligible to serve again as governor after a specified period (currently, 4 years) out of office. Several other states formerly had this "no succession" rule (which was part of Virginia's original constitution in 1776), but all have eliminated the prohibition except Virginia by 2000 (including Mississippi, which repealed it in 1986, and Kentucky, which repealed it in 1992).
The governors of the following states and territories are limited to two consecutive terms, but are eligible to run again after four years out of office: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Equivalently, the governors of Indiana and Oregon are limited to serving 8 out of any 12 years. Conversely, the governors of Montana and Wyoming are limited to two terms, serving 8 out of any 16 years.
Finally, the governors of the following states and territory are limited to two terms during their respective lifetime: Arkansas, California, Delaware, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Oklahoma. Former governor of California Jerry Brown, however, served four non-consecutive terms because his first two terms were before limits were passed in California, and the limits did not apply to individuals' prior terms.
The governors of New Hampshire and Vermont may serve unlimited two-year terms. The governors (or equivalent) in the following states, district, and territory may serve unlimited four-year terms: Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The governor of Utah was previously limited to serving three terms, but all term limit laws have since been repealed by the legislature.
In 2022, voters in North Dakota approved a constitutional amendment that limits the governor to no more than two four-year terms. The amendment only applies to individuals elected after 2023.
State legislatures with term limits.
Seventeen state legislatures currently have term limits. The earliest state legislative term limit was enacted in 1990, and the most recent was enacted in 2022. Term limits only went into effect years after they were enacted.
Overturned or repealed state legislative term limits.
Legislative term limits have been repealed or overturned in six states. Term limits for state legislatures were adopted by Idaho and Utah in 1994, but repealed by their respective legislatures in 2002 (Idaho) and 2003 (Utah). Term limits adopted in four states were struck down as unconstitutional by the state supreme courts in those states: in Massachusetts, Washington and Wyoming, the court ruled that term limits could not be enacted by statute, and could only be enacted by an amendment to the state constitution; the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the Oregon initiative establishing term limits violated the single-subject rule.
Municipal term limits.
Some localities impose term limits for local office. Among the 20 most populous U.S. cities:
A two-term limit was imposed on New York City Council members and citywide elected officials (except for district attorneys) in New York City after a 1993 referendum (see the Charter of the City of New York, § 1138). On November 3, 2008, however, when Michael Bloomberg was in his second term of mayor, the City Council approved the extension of the two-term limit to a three-term limit; one year later, he was elected to a third term. The two-term limit was reinstated after a referendum in 2010.
Negative impacts.
Research studies have shown that legislative term limits increase legislative polarization, reduce the legislative skills of politicians, reduce the legislative productivity of politicians, weaken legislatures vis-à-vis the executive, and reduce voter turnout. Parties respond to the implementation of term limits by recruiting candidates for office on more partisan lines. States that implement term limits in the state legislatures are associated with also developing more powerful House speakers.
Term limits have not proven to reduce campaign spending, reduce the gender gap in political representation, increase the diversity of law-makers, or increase the constituent service activities of law-makers. Term limits have been linked to lower growth in revenues and expenditures.
References.
Citations.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

List of presidents of the United States by time in office

The length of a full four-year term of office for a president of the United States usually amounts to 1,461 days (three common years of 365 days plus one leap year of 366 days). The listed number of days is calculated as the "difference between dates", which counts the number of "calendar days" except the first day ("day zero"). If the first day were included, all numbers would be one day more, except Grover Cleveland would have two more days, as he served two non-consecutive terms.
Of the individuals elected president of the United States, four died of natural causes while in office (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding and Franklin D. Roosevelt), four were assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy) and one resigned from office (Richard Nixon).
William Henry Harrison spent the shortest time in office, while Franklin D. Roosevelt spent the longest. Roosevelt is the only American president to have served more than two terms. Following ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment in 1951, presidents—beginning with Dwight D. Eisenhower—have been ineligible for election to a third term or, after serving more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected president, to a second term. The amendment contained a grandfather clause that explicitly exempted the incumbent president, then Harry S. Truman, from the new term limitation.
Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump were voted out of office after one term, but they were later elected to a second non-consecutive term. Consequently, while there have been 47 presidencies in the nation's history, only 45 people have been sworn into office.
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Term limit
Legal restriction limiting the number of terms an officeholder may serve
A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes "president for life". This is intended to protect a republic Term limits may be a lifetime limit on the number of terms an officeholder may serve, or a limit on the number of consecutive terms.
According to a 2020 analysis, nearly one in four incumbents who face term limits seek to circumvent the term limits through various strategies, including constitutional amendments, working with the judiciary to reinterpret the term limits, let a placeholder govern for the incumbent, and cancelling or delaying elections.
History.
Europe.
Term limits date back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Republic, as well as the Republic of Venice. In ancient Athenian democracy, many officeholders were limited to a single term. Council members were allowed a maximum of two terms. The position of Strategos could be held for an indefinite number of terms. In the Roman Republic, a law was passed imposing a limit of a single term on the office of censor. The annual magistrates, including the tribune of the plebs, the aedile, the quaestor, the praetor, and the consul, were forbidden reelection until a number of years had passed. The office of dictator was nearly unrestricted with the exception that it was limited to a single six-month term. Successive Roman leaders weakened this restriction until Julius Caesar became a perpetual dictator and ended the republic.
Term limits returned in medieval Europe through the Novgorod Republic, the Pskov Republic, the Republic of Genoa, and the Republic of Florence.
The first modern constitutional term limit was established in the French First Republic by the Constitution of 1795, which established five-year terms to the French Directory and banned consecutive terms. Napoleon ended the practice of term limits in 1799 in much the same way as Julius Caesar had. The French Constitution of 1848 reestablished term limits, but this was abolished by Napoleon's nephew, Napoleon III.
Many post-Soviet republics established presidential systems with five-year term limits after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The President of Russia is allowed a maximum of two consecutive terms, but the 2020 amendments to the Constitution of Russia reset incumbent president Vladimir Putin's term count, allowing him to stand for two additional terms. The President of Belarus was limited to two terms, but the limit was abolished in 2004.
United States.
A predecessor of modern term limits in the Americas dates back to the 1682 Pennsylvania Charter of Liberties and the colonial frame of government of the same year, authored by William Penn and providing for triennial rotation of the Provincial Council, the upper house of the colonial legislature. Presidents of the United States typically honored an informal tradition of only serving two terms in office, but this limit was not enshrined into law until the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1951 after Franklin D. Roosevelt had been elected to an unprecedented third and fourth terms.
Latin America.
As the countries of Latin America modeled presidential republics after the government of the United States in the 19th century, they established term limits for their presidents based on the two-term precedent of the United States. In response to presidents overstaying their term, some of these term limits were eventually replaced by a limit of one term without reelection.
In Mexico, Porfirio Díaz evaded term limits, running for eight terms before being forced into exile in 1911. A new constitution in 1917 established a one term limit. After Álvaro Obregón violated this law and ran for a second term, he was assassinated. Currently, members of the Congress of Mexico cannot be reelected consecutively under article 50 and 59 of the Constitution of Mexico, and the President of Mexico is limited to a single six-year term, called the sexenio.
The President of Argentina was limited to one consecutive six-year term, but the Constitution of Argentina was amended in 1994, loosening the term limit to a maximum of two consecutive four-year terms.
In 1997, the Constitution of Brazil was amended, loosening the term limit for the President of Brazil from one five-year term to two four-year terms.
In 2004, the term limit for the President of Colombia was increased from one term to two terms before reverting to one term in 2015.
The 2009 Venezuelan constitutional referendum abolished term limits in Venezuela.<ref name="BBC 16/2"></ref>
Asia.
Following the 1911 Revolution, Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet Yuan Shikai became the second President of the Republic of China. He was initially subject to a maximum of two five-year terms, but the term was then lengthened to ten years and the term limit was removed.
In 1948, the Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion abolished the term limit for the President of the Republic of China and established Chiang Kai-shek as the country's military leader. The term limit was restored after the provisions were repealed in 1991.
The President of South Korea was initially permitted to serve a maximum of two four-year terms when the office was created in 1948, but the term limit was removed in 1954 so that Syngman Rhee could run for a third term. After Rhee was elected to a fourth term, the First Republic of Korea was overthrown. The two term limit was restored, but it was expanded to three terms in 1969 and abolished again in 1972. A one seven-year term limit was established in 1981, which was reduced to five years in 1988.
Under the original Constitution of Indonesia, there were no presidential or vice-presidential term limits, but since the first amendment in 1999 holders of both offices are limited to two terms each.
The Philippines established term limits following independence from the United States, but they were abolished by Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s. Term limits were restored in the 1987 constitution, after Marcos was deposed in the People Power Revolution. The President is limited to one six-year term.
Between 1982 and 2018, the Constitution of China stipulated that the president, vice president, premier and vice premiers could not serve more than two consecutive terms, though there was no term limit for the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, who usually represented the paramount leader of China. In March 2018, the National People's Congress passed a set of constitutional amendments, including abolishing the term limits for the president and vice president, as well as enhancing the central role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), allowing CCP leader Xi Jinping to continue as paramount leader indefinitely.
The President of Tajikistan was initially limited to one five-year term under the 1994 Constitution of Tajikistan. This was increased to one seven-year term in 1999 and to two seven-year terms in 2003. The term limit was reset for President Emomali Rahmon in 2006, and the term limit was abolished in 2016.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan was limited to one five-year term until the limit was abolished in 2011.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia is subjected to a term limit. Once elected, he is only allowed to serve for a single five-year term and cannot renew for a second term consecutively. This rule makes Malaysia among two constitutional monarchies in the world that is subjected to a term limit, the other being Andorra (with the President of France serving as one of its co-princes).
Sub-Saharan Africa.
Liberia briefly limited its presidents to an eight-year term between 1944 and 1951. As the countries of sub-Saharan Africa were decolonised in the mid-20th century, most of the new governments established presidential systems, but term limits were rarely established. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, and Togo were the only countries to establish them, but they were abolished soon afterward. After the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989-90 and ensuing wave of democratization in Eastern Europe, many African engaged in similar political democratizations and established term limits.
The President of Uganda was limited to two five-year terms in 1995. President Yoweri Museveni had previously served two terms, but these were not counted toward the new two term limit. The term limit was abolished in 2005, allowing Museveni to continue as president.
In Kenya, the 2010 constitution limits the president to a maximum of two five-year terms just like county governors. Before the promulgation of the 2010 constitution, term limits did not exist. The first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta ruled for 15 years and died in office. His vice president, Daniel Moi took over in 1978 and ruled for 24 years before Mwai Kibaki took over. Kibaki ruled for ten years, in a tenure that was characterized by major political reforms leading to the 2010 constitution. Immediate former President Uhuru Kenyatta was the first president under the new law, a position he served for two terms of 5 years each and was succeeded by his deputy William Ruto in September 2022. A member of President Ruto's United Democratic Alliance party revealed plans to scrap the term limits on 7 November 2022 but the leadership dismissed him saying that was his personal opinion which he was entitled to.
The 1999 constitution of Nigeria limits the President at the Federal level, and Governors at the state level to serving two four-year terms. This has been strictly followed since 1999.
The 2010 constitution of Niger limited the President to two five-year terms. Mahamadou Issoufou was the only president to step down after being term limited.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, only South Africa (since 1994) Ghana (since 1993), Kenya (since 1964), and Nigeria (since 1999) have experienced a peaceful transition of power from one president to another after the expiry of term limits. Some countries have either scrapped the requirement or do not have it in their laws.
Middle East and North Africa.
The 2019 Egyptian constitutional referendum included amendments to expand the presidential term from four to six years and allow President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to stand for a third term over the constitutional limit of two terms.
Term limits were one of the major demands of protesters during the Arab Spring.
Mechanism.
Term limits are an element of constitutionalism that serves to limit the negative effects of democracy.
Term limits may take the form of consecutive term limits or lifetime term limits. With consecutive term limits, an officeholder can only serve a certain number of terms before they have to stop running for that office. After a set period of time, the clock resets on the limit, and the officeholder may run for election to their original office and serve up to the limit again. With lifetime limits, once an officeholder has served up to the limit, they may never again run for election to that office. Lifetime limits are much more restrictive than consecutive limits.
Countries that operate a parliamentary system of government are less likely to employ term limits on their leaders. This is because such leaders rarely have a set "term" at all: rather, they serve as long as they have the confidence of the parliament, a period which could potentially last for life. Many parliaments can be dissolved for snap elections which means some parliaments can last for mere months while others can continue until their expiration dates. Nevertheless, such countries may impose term limits on the holders of other offices—in republics, for example, a ceremonial presidency may have a term limit, especially if the office holds reserve powers.
Due in part to a lack of legal term limits in African countries, Mo Ibrahim created the Ibrahim Prize with an associated cash prize to incentivize African leaders to promote human rights and democratic transfer of power.
Violation of term limits.
Many presidents have tried to overstay their respective term limits by various methods. According to one analysis, nearly one in four incumbents who faced term limits sought to circumvent the term limits. The most common way in which they attempt this is through constitutional amendments (in particular, when the incumbent's party controls the legislature). Other strategies including getting the judiciary to re-interpret term limit provisions; letting a placeholder succeed the incumbent while the incumbent still governs in practice; write a new constitution; or delay/cancel elections.
Between 1960 and 2010, more than one quarter of term-limited presidents successfully extended or violated their term limits to stay in power, and the enforcement of term limits is recognized as one of the great challenges in democratic development. Term limits typically receive greater domestic and international recognition than other mechanisms of democracy, and attempts to violate term limits are typically met with strong resistance by a country's population and on the world stage. The violation of term limits is strongly correlated with democratic backsliding and the erosion of human rights.
Whether a president seeks to subvert term limits may be affected by how much wealth can be gained from the office, opportunities for acquiring wealth after leaving office, what constraints are in place to enforce term limits, how much control leader has over other branches of government or a political party, precedent in the region, and the likelihood of facing criminal prosecution upon leaving office. Presidents are more likely to be successful in violating term limits if they control the other branches of government, whether through their political parties or through insufficient checks and balances. Though violation of term limits is more common in less democratic countries, political opposition, foreign governments, and the citizenry can still enforce term limits in nondemocratic countries.
A president may attempt to circumvent term limits indirectly by extending their rule without an additional term. This may be done by extending the length of the term or postponing elections. In some cases, a president may circumvent term limits by officially stepping down from office but maintaining "de facto" control of the government.
1.<templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^ In a monarchical country where the head of government isn't also the head of state (Prime Minister) the color scheme does not apply to the head of government.
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution
1951 amendment limiting presidents to two terms
The Twenty-second Amendment (Amendment XXII) to the United States Constitution limits the number of times a person can be elected to the office of President of the United States to two terms, and sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents who succeed to the unexpired terms of their predecessors. Congress approved the Twenty-second Amendment on March 21, 1947, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification. That process was completed on February 27, 1951, when the requisite 36 of the 48 states had ratified the amendment (neither Alaska nor Hawaii had yet been admitted as a state), and its provisions came into force on that date.
The amendment prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again. Under the amendment, someone who fills an unexpired presidential term lasting more than two years is also prohibited from being elected president more than once. Scholars debate whether the amendment prohibits affected individuals from succeeding to the presidency under any circumstances or whether it applies only to presidential elections. Until the amendment's ratification, the president had not been subject to term limits, but both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (the first and third presidents) decided not to run for a third term, establishing a two-term tradition. In the 1940 and 1944 presidential elections, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the only president to be elected for a third and fourth term, giving rise to concerns about a president serving unlimited terms.
Text.
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
Section 2. This Article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.
Background.
The Twenty-second Amendment was a reaction to Franklin D. Roosevelt's election to an unprecedented four terms as president, but presidential term limits had long been debated in American politics. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 considered the issue extensively (alongside broader questions, such as who would elect the president, and the president's role). Many, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, supported lifetime tenure for presidents, while others favored fixed terms. Virginia's George Mason denounced the life-tenure proposal as tantamount to elective monarchy. An early draft of the U.S. Constitution provided that the president was restricted to one seven-year term. Ultimately, the Framers approved four-year terms with no restriction on how many times a person could be elected president.
Though dismissed by the Constitutional Convention, term limits for U.S. presidents were contemplated during the presidencies of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. As his second term entered its final year in 1796, Washington was exhausted from years of public service, and his health had begun to decline. He was also bothered by his political opponents' unrelenting attacks, which had escalated after the signing of the Jay Treaty, and believed he had accomplished his major goals as president. For these reasons, he decided not to run for a third term, a decision he announced to the nation in his September 1796 "Farewell Address". Eleven years later, as Thomas Jefferson neared the halfway point of his second term, he wrote,
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years, will in fact, become for life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance.
Since Washington made his historic announcement, numerous academics and public figures have looked at his decision to retire after two terms, and have, according to political scientist Bruce Peabody, "argued he had established a "two-term tradition" that served as a vital check against any one person, or the presidency as a whole, accumulating too much power". Various amendments aimed at changing informal precedent to constitutional law were proposed in Congress in the early to mid-19th century, but none passed. Three of the next four presidents after Jefferson—Madison, James Monroe, and Andrew Jackson—served two terms, and each adhered to the two-term principle; Martin Van Buren was the only president between Jackson and Abraham Lincoln to be nominated for a second term, though he lost the 1840 election and so served only one term. At the outset of the Civil War, the seceding states drafted the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, which in most respects resembled the United States Constitution, but limited the president to a single six-year term.
In spite of the strong two-term tradition, a few presidents before Roosevelt attempted to secure a third term. Following Ulysses S. Grant's reelection in 1872, there were serious discussions within Republican political circles about the possibility of his running again in 1876. But interest in a third term for Grant evaporated in the light of negative public opinion and opposition from members of Congress, and Grant left the presidency in 1877 after two terms. Even so, as the 1880 election approached, he sought nomination for a (non-consecutive) third term at the 1880 Republican National Convention, but narrowly lost to James A. Garfield, who won the 1880 election.
Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency on September 14, 1901, following William McKinley's assassination ( days into his second term), and was handily elected to a full term in 1904. He declined to seek a third (second full) term in 1908, but did run again in the 1912 election, losing to Woodrow Wilson. Wilson himself, despite his ill health following a serious stroke, aspired to a third term. Many of his advisers tried to convince him that his health precluded another campaign, but Wilson nonetheless asked that his name be placed in nomination for the presidency at the 1920 Democratic National Convention. Democratic Party leaders were unwilling to support Wilson, and the nomination went to James M. Cox, who lost to Warren G. Harding. Wilson again contemplated running for a (non-consecutive) third term in 1924, devising a strategy for his comeback, but again lacked any support. He died in February of that year.
Franklin Roosevelt spent the months leading up to the 1940 Democratic National Convention refusing to say whether he would seek a third term. His vice president, John Nance Garner, along with Postmaster General James Farley, announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination. When the convention came, Roosevelt sent a message to the convention saying he would run only if drafted, saying delegates were free to vote for whomever they pleased. This message was interpreted to mean he was willing to be drafted, and he was renominated on the convention's first ballot. Roosevelt won a decisive victory over Republican Wendell Willkie, becoming the only president to exceed eight years in office. His decision to seek a third term dominated the election campaign. Willkie ran against the open-ended presidential tenure, while Democrats cited the war in Europe as a reason for breaking with precedent.
Four years later, Roosevelt faced Republican Thomas E. Dewey in the 1944 election. Near the end of the campaign, Dewey announced his support of a constitutional amendment to limit presidents to two terms. According to Dewey, "four terms, or sixteen years [a direct reference to the president's tenure in office four years hence] is the most dangerous threat to our freedom ever proposed." He also discreetly raised the issue of the president's age. Roosevelt exuded enough energy and charisma to retain voters' confidence and was elected to a fourth term.
While he quelled rumors of poor health during the campaign, Roosevelt's health was deteriorating. On April 12, 1945, only days after his fourth inauguration, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and , to be succeeded by Vice President Harry Truman. In the midterm elections months later, Republicans took control of the House and the Senate. As many of them had campaigned on the issue of presidential tenure, declaring their support for a constitutional amendment that would limit how long a person could serve as president, the issue was given priority in the 80th Congress when it convened in January 1947.
Proposal and ratification.
Proposal in Congress.
The House of Representatives took quick action, approving a proposed constitutional amendment (House Joint Resolution 27) setting a limit of two four-year terms for future presidents. Introduced by Earl C. Michener, the measure passed 285–121, with support from 47 Democrats, on February 6, 1947. Meanwhile, the Senate developed its own proposed amendment, which initially differed from the House proposal by requiring that the amendment be submitted to state ratifying conventions for ratification, rather than to the state legislatures, and by prohibiting any person who had served more than 365 days in each of two terms from further presidential service. Both of these provisions were removed when the full Senate took up the bill; however, a new provision was added. Put forward by Robert A. Taft, it clarified procedures governing the number of times a vice president who succeeded to the presidency might be elected to office. The amended proposal was passed 59–23, with 16 Democrats in favor, on March 12.
On March 21, the House agreed to the Senate's revisions and approved the resolution to amend the Constitution. Afterward, the amendment imposing term limitations on future presidents was submitted to the states for ratification. The ratification process was completed on February 27, 1951, after it was sent to the states.
Ratification by the states.
Once submitted to the states, the 22nd Amendment was ratified by:
Conversely, two states—Massachusetts and Oklahoma—rejected the amendment, while five (Arizona, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Washington, and West Virginia) took no action.
Effect.
Because of the grandfather clause in Section 1, the amendment did not apply to Harry S. Truman, who was the incumbent president at the time it was submitted to the states by the Congress. This full exemption allowed Truman to run again in 1952. He had served nearly all of Franklin Roosevelt's unexpired 1945–1949 term and had been elected to a full four-year term beginning in 1949. But with his job approval rating at around 27%, and after a poor performance in the 1952 New Hampshire primary, Truman chose not to seek his party's nomination. Since becoming operative in 1951, the amendment has barred six twice-elected presidents from election to a third term: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. The incumbent president, Donald Trump, who has been elected to two non-consecutive terms, will also be barred from seeking a third presidential term.
Additionally, Lyndon B. Johnson was eligible for two terms as president, and Gerald Ford for one term, under the 22nd Amendment. In Johnson's case, he had finished what was fourteen months, a little over a year, left of John F. Kennedy's presidency. Thus, he was eligible for two terms and would have then been term limited to January 20, 1973. With Ford, he served over 28 months, or just over two years, of the remainder of Richard Nixon's presidency. Had Ford won the 1976 election, he would have been term limited to January 20, 1981.
Interaction with the Twelfth Amendment.
As worded, the focus of the 22nd Amendment is on limiting individuals from being elected to the presidency more than twice. Questions have been raised about the amendment's meaning and application, especially in relation to the 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, which states, "But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." While the 12th Amendment stipulates that the constitutional qualifications of age, citizenship, and residency apply to the president and vice president, it is unclear whether someone who is ineligible to be elected president due to term limits could be elected vice president. Because of the ambiguity, a two-term former president could possibly be elected vice president and then succeed to the presidency as a result of the incumbent's death, resignation, or removal from office, or succeed to become Acting President from another stated office in the presidential line of succession.
It has been argued that the 22nd Amendment and 12th Amendment bar any two-term president from later serving as vice president as well as from succeeding to the presidency from any point in the presidential line of succession. Others contend that the original intent of the 12th Amendment concerns qualification for service (age, residence, and citizenship), while the 22nd Amendment concerns qualifications for election, and thus a former two-term president is still eligible to serve as vice president. Neither amendment restricts the number of times someone can be elected to the vice presidency and then succeed to the presidency to serve out the balance of the term, although the person could be prohibited from running for election to an additional term. The practical applicability of this distinction has not been tested, as no person has been elected president and vice president in that order, regardless of terms served.
Attempts at repeal or reform.
Over the years, several presidents have voiced their antipathy toward the amendment. After leaving office, Harry Truman described the amendment as stupid and one of the worst amendments of the Constitution with the exception of the Prohibition Amendment. A few days before leaving office in January 1989, President Ronald Reagan said he would push for a repeal of the 22nd Amendment because he thought it infringed on people's democratic rights. In a November 2000 interview with "Rolling Stone", President Bill Clinton suggested that the 22nd Amendment should be altered to limit presidents to two consecutive terms but then allow for non-consecutive terms, because of longer life expectancies.
The first efforts in Congress to repeal the 22nd Amendment were undertaken in 1956, five years after the amendment's ratification. Over the next 50 years, 54 joint resolutions seeking to repeal the two-term presidential election limit were introduced. Between 1997 and 2013, Representative José E. Serrano introduced nine resolutions (one per Congress, all unsuccessful) to repeal the amendment.
In January 2025, Representative Andy Ogles introduced a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment that would allow a president to serve a third term, provided that their first two are non-consecutive. The language of the bill was intended to specifically allow incumbent President Donald Trump to serve a third term, as he is the only living president to serve non-consecutive terms.
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

List of presidents of the United States
The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. Under the U.S. Constitution, the officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The first president, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. The incumbent president is Donald Trump, who assumed office on January 20, 2025. Since the office was established in 1789, 45 men have served in 47 presidencies; the discrepancy arises from two individuals elected to non-consecutive terms: Grover Cleveland is counted as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, while Donald Trump is counted as the 45th and 47th president.
The presidency of William Henry Harrison, who died 31 days after taking office in 1841, was the shortest in American history. Franklin D. Roosevelt served the longest, over twelve years, before dying early in his fourth term in 1945. He is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. Since the ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1951, no person may be elected president more than twice, and no one who has served more than two years of a term to which someone else was elected may be elected more than once.
Four presidents died in office of natural causes (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin D. Roosevelt), four were assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy), and one resigned (Richard Nixon, facing impeachment and removal from office). John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency during a presidential term, setting the precedent that a vice president who does so becomes the fully functioning president with a new, distinct administration.
Throughout most of its history, American politics has been dominated by political parties. The Constitution is silent on the issue of political parties, and at the time it came into force in 1789, no organized parties existed. Soon after the 1st Congress convened, political factions began rallying around dominant Washington administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Concerned about the capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together, Washington remained unaffiliated with any political faction or party throughout his eight-year presidency. He was, and remains, the only U.S. president who never affiliated with a political party.
Presidents.
<templatestyles src="template:sticky header/styles.css"/>
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Works cited.
<templatestyles src="Refbegin/styles.css" />
General
Expert studies
Presidential biographies
Online sources

List of presidents of the United States who did not seek reelection
The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. Since 1951 under the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States no person may serve more than two full terms as president (or one term if they have served over two years of a partial term). Prior to the term limit, all presidents (except Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt non-consecutively, and Franklin D. Roosevelt consecutively) followed an informal two-term tradition set by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The following presidents were eligible for a second or third full term but chose not to run in the general election, although several sought to run in party primaries:
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Term of office
Set length of time a person serves in an elected position
A term of office, electoral term, or parliamentary term is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a defined limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a maximum number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office.
Terms of office by country.
Numbers in years unless stated otherwise. Some countries where fixed-term elections are uncommon, the legislature is almost always dissolved earlier than its expiry date. "Until removed from office" refers to offices that do not have fixed terms; in these cases, the officeholder(s) may serve indefinitely until death, abdication, resignation, retirement, or forcible removal from office (such as impeachment).
In most cases where the head of government is a different person from the head of state, its term of office is identical to the chamber that elected it (the legislature if it is unicameral, or most usually the lower house if it is bicameral), unless it does not survive a vote of no confidence.
United Kingdom.
Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdom's system of government are replicated in many other countries.
Monarch.
The monarch serves as head of state until their death or abdication.
House of Commons.
In the United Kingdom Members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, a general election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament. An individual's term may be cut short by death or resignation. An MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election.
The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned; this maximum period was reduced to five years by the Parliament Act 1911. Prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the prime minister's request. Early dissolutions occurred when the make-up of Parliament made forming government impossible (as occurred in 1974), or, more commonly, when the incumbent government reasoned an early general election would improve their re-election chances (e.g. 2001). The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years; early dissolution remained possible but under much more limited circumstances. However, the act was repealed in 2022 and replaced with the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, which restored the pre-2011 constitutional situation.
Because the government and prime minister are effectively indirectly elected through the Commons, the terms of Parliaments and MPs do not directly apply to offices of government, though in practice these are affected by changes in Parliament. While, strictly speaking, a prime minister whose incumbency spans multiple Parliaments only serves one, unbroken, term of office, some writers may refer to the different Parliaments as separate terms.
House of Lords.
Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, though members can resign or be expelled. Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric (e.g. George Carey, made "Baron Carey of Clifton" the day after he ceased being Archbishop of Canterbury).
Devolved administrations.
The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster.
The office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit. This is imposed at five years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, which has not happened yet.
Other elected offices.
Offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years.
United States.
Federal.
In the United States, the president of the United States is elected indirectly through the United States Electoral College to a four-year term, with a term limit of two terms (totaling eight years) or a maximum of ten years if the president acted as president for two years or less in a term where another was elected as president, imposed by the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1951.
The Vice President also serves four-year terms but without any term limit. U.S. Representatives serve two-year terms. U.S. Senators serve six-year terms.
Federal judges have different terms in office. Article I judges; such as those that sit on the United States bankruptcy courts, United States Tax Court, and United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and certain other federal courts and other forms of adjudicative bodies serve limited terms: The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces for 15 years, bankruptcy courts for 14. However, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges (such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts), serve for life.
State and territories.
The terms of office for officials in state governments varies according to the provisions of state constitutions and state law.
The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire; the Vermont and New Hampshire governors serve for two years.
The National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures:
Among territories of the United States:
Members of Council of the District of Columbia serve a four-year term.
Canada.
As a former British territory following the Westminster System, there are many similarities with the United Kingdom, although with some variations based on local customs, the federal system of government and the absentee monarch.
Monarch.
Being a Commonwealth realm, Canada shares a monarch with the United Kingdom and 14 other countries, who serves as head of state of all 15 realms until his or her death or abdication.
Viceroys.
The governor general is appointed by the monarch as his/her personal representative on the advice of the prime minister, and serves for an indefinite term, though the normal convention is 5 years. Similarly, the lieutenant governors, who represent the monarch at the provincial level, are appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister (usually also with consultation of the relevant provincial premier), and generally also serve 5 year terms by convention. The territories have commissioners, who are not representatives of the monarch, but are instead appointed by and represent the governor-in-council (i.e. the federal cabinet), and conventionally serve for about 5 years.
House of Commons.
Similar to the United Kingdom, MPs serve for the duration of the Parliament. They may resign before the end of a Parliament or be elected in by-elections during the middle of a Parliament.
Under the Constitution Act, 1867, a Parliament may last for a maximum of 5 years from the most recent election before expiring, although all Parliaments to date have been dissolved before they could expire. Bill C-16, introduced in the 39th Parliament, provided for fixed election dates every 4 years on the third Monday in October, beginning in 2009. However, the Prime Minister may still advise the Governor General to dissolve Parliament at any time.
As in the United Kingdom, the cabinet and head of government are indirectly elected based on the composition of the House of Commons, they are not technically affected by the terms of legislators or Parliaments. In practice however, the terms of government office holders are affected by changes in the House of Commons, and those who serve for multiple consecutive Parliaments are generally considered to have served a single term. The term of a government generally ends when it is defeated on a confidence matter or the governing party fails to gain enough seats in a general election.
Senate.
Senators are appointed to the Canadian Senate to represent a province, territory, or group of provinces, by the Governor General of Canada on the advice of the Prime Minister, and serve until the mandatory retirement age of 75. Senators appointed before the passage of the British North America Act, 1965 served for life. Senators may also resign from office or be expelled from the Senate.
Provincial and Territorial Legislatures.
Provincial legislatures and the legislature of the Yukon function very similarly to the federal House of Commons. MLAs (called MPPs in Ontario, MNAs in Quebec, and MHAs in Newfoundland and Labrador) serve for the duration of the legislature, though they may resign before the legislature is dissolved or be elected in by-elections between general elections. The legislatures of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut operate using a consensus model, but are similar otherwise. The premiers and their cabinets are selected in the same way as in the House of Commons, and like at the federal level, the term of a provincial government can be ended by defeat in a general election or the loss of the legislature's confidence.
All provincial legislatures have fixed-term election legislation in place, as does the legislature of the Northwest Territories. Premiers may also advise Lieutenant Governors to dissolve legislatures at any time before the prescribed election date.
Netherlands.
In the Netherlands the position of Minister-President (Prime Minister) is limited to four years (counted from the moment the government is officially formed) although it can be repeated indefinitely after subsequent elections. It is common for the heads of governments in the Netherlands to take up the mantle multiple times, although it's neither expected or required to do so, more often a consequence of governments breaking up internally before their official four years are over and reforming with other parties. This is how the Netherlands ended up with consequent cabinets by:
4x Willem Drees (Drees-Van Schaik I '48, Drees I '51, Drees II '52 - Drees III '56)
3x Dries van Agt (Van Agt I '77, Van Agt II '81, Van Agt III '82)
4x Jan Peter Balkenende (Balkenende I '02, Balkenende II '03, Balkenende III '06, Balkenende IV '07)
4x Mark Rutte (Rutte I '10, Rutte II '12, Rutte III '17, Rutte IV '22).
China.
Between 1982 and 2018, the Constitution of China stipulated that the president, vice president, premier, vice premiers could not serve more than two consecutive terms. In March 2018, China's party-controlled National People's Congress passed a set of constitutional amendments including removal of term limits for the president and vice president, as well as enhancing the central role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On 17 March 2018, the Chinese legislature reappointed Xi as president, now without term limits; Wang Qishan was appointed vice president. The following day, Li Keqiang was reappointed premier and longtime allies of Xi, Xu Qiliang and Zhang Youxia, were voted in as vice-chairmen of the state military commission. Foreign minister Wang Yi was promoted to state councillor and General Wei Fenghe was named defence minister.
According to the "Financial Times", Xi expressed his views of constitutional amendment at meetings with Chinese officials and foreign dignitaries. Xi explained the decision in terms of needing to align two more powerful posts—General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC)—which have no term limits. However, Xi did not say whether he intended to serve as party general secretary, CMC chairman and state president, for three or more terms.
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

List of vice presidents of the United States by time in office
The length of a full four-year term of office for a vice president of the United States usually amounts to 1,461 days (three common years of 365 days plus one leap year of 366 days). The listed number of days is calculated as the "difference between dates", which counts the number of "calendar days" except the first day ("day zero"). If the first day were included, all numbers would be one day more.
Since 1789, there have been 50 people sworn into office as Vice President of the United States. Of these, nine succeeded to the presidency during their term, seven died while in office, and two resigned. Since the adoption of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (February 10, 1967), when there is a vacancy in the office of the vice president, the president nominates a successor who takes office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Term limits in Russia
Russia imposes term limits on its president, preventing officeholders from being reelected after a number of terms have been reached. It historically imposed term limits on governors of its federal subjects. These limits are defined by the Constitution of Russia.
The President of Russia is limited to no more than two six-year terms. Prior to constitutional amendments in 2020, the limit applied only to consecutive terms, allowing a term-limited president to be elected again after one term out of office. The only presidents to be term-limited are Boris Yeltsin in 2000 and Vladimir Putin in 2008 and again in 2024. Since becoming president, Putin has taken several measures to circumvent his term limits. After leaving office in 2008, he retained control over the executive as prime minister, holding power over his chosen successor President Dmitry Medvedev. The 2020 amendments then exempted him from being term-limited in 2024 by excluding his previous terms, allowing him two more terms before reaching the constitutional limit. Presidents have refrained from abolishing term limits entirely because of the broad support for limits among the Russian people and the potential for political backlash.
Governors of federal subjects have not been subject to term limits since 2021. Prior to this, they were subject to a 2012 law that limited them to no more than two five-year terms consecutively but allowed them to be elected again after one term of separation from the office. From 2004 to 2012, governors were appointed by the president and could be reappointed indefinitely. Other term limits have existed historically in present-day Russia, including limits on executive office in the medieval republics of Novgorod and Pskov, as well as limits on members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union established by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989.
Presidential.
1990s.
Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution was amended in 1990 to establish the office of President of the Soviet Union. It set terms of five years, mirroring the five-year terms used by other Soviet officials, and the president was limited to two terms. Similar limits were widely adopted by the post-Soviet states, and none of the authors challenged its inclusion during the drafting of the Russian constitution in 1993. Supporters of incumbent president Boris Yeltsin desired an opportunity for Yeltsin to stay in power and lobbied for limits on only consecutive terms, allowing further reelection of a president after spending one term away from the presidency. They considered this a higher priority than the length of a term, and they compromised on terms of only four years in length.
Having first been elected president in 1991 under the Soviet constitution, Yeltsin was reelected in 1996 under the new Russian constitution. This created a legal question as to whether his first term counted toward his term limit under the Russian constitution. In 1998, the legislature sent the issue to the Constitutional Court of Russia, which ruled that Russians knew Yeltsin was running for a second term, and as there was no grandfather clause, he was term limited