# List of presidents who did not win reelection

This is a list of incumbent presidents as heads of state and/or heads of state and government in any country who ran for another term in office but were not reelected.

## List

* 1800
* 1900
* 1950
* 1980
* 1990
* 1995
* 2000
* 2005
* 2010
* 2015
* 2020
| Term in office | President | Country | Lost election | Winning successor | Notes |
| 1797–1801 | John Adams | United States | 1800 United States presidential election | Thomas Jefferson | Adams placed third behind Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr. Jefferson narrowly won a contingent election in the U.S. House of Representatives. |
| 1825–1829 | John Quincy Adams | United States | 1828 United States presidential election | Andrew Jackson | Jackson previously won a plurality of the popular vote against Adams in the 1824 presidential election but lost a contingent election. |
| 1837–1841 | Martin Van Buren | United States | 1840 United States presidential election | William Henry Harrison | Van Buren also ran in the 1848 presidential election with the Free Soil Party. |
| 1871–1873 | Miguel García Granados | Guatemala | 1873 Guatemalan general election | Justo Rufino Barrios | García Granados was serving as acting president of Guatemala, however, he was defeated by Justo Rufino Barrios. |
| 1885–1889 | Grover Cleveland | United States | 1888 United States presidential election | Benjamin Harrison | Cleveland lost the 1888 presidential election, but won the 1892 United States presidential election, becoming the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms. |
| 1889–1893 | Benjamin Harrison | United States | 1892 United States presidential election | Grover Cleveland | |
| 1909–1913 | William Howard Taft | United States | 1912 United States presidential election | Woodrow Wilson | Taft also ran against former President Theodore Roosevelt for the Republican nomination. After Taft won Roosevelt launched his own presidential campaign under the Progressive Party. Taft came in third behind both Wilson and Roosevelt. |
| 1929–1933 | Herbert Hoover | United States | 1932 United States presidential election | Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
| 1931–1937 | Pehr Evind Svinhufvud | Finland | 1937 Finnish presidential election | Kyösti Kallio | |
| 1944–1946 | Sergio Osmeña | Philippines | 1946 Philippine presidential election | Manuel Roxas | Then-Vice President Osmeña succeeded Manuel L. Quezon after the latter died on 1944. Osmeña lost his own right term to Manuel Roxas on 1946 Philippine presidential election. |
| 1948–1953 | Elpidio Quirino | Philippines | 1953 Philippine presidential election | Ramon Magsaysay | Then-Vice President Quirino succeeded Manuel Roxas on 1948. Quirino won his own right on 1949 presidential election. |
| 1948–1955 | Luigi Einaudi | Italy | 1955 Italian presidential election | Giovanni Gronchi | |
| 1938–1950 | İsmet İnönü | Turkey | 1950 Turkish presidential election | Celal Bayar | |
| 1955–1962 | Giovanni Gronchi | Italy | 1962 Italian presidential election | Antonio Segni | |
| 1957–1961 | Carlos P. Garcia | Philippines | 1961 Philippine presidential election | Diosdado Macapagal | Then-Vice President Garcia succeeded Ramon Magsaysay after the latter died in 1957. Garcia became president on his own right after winning the 1957 presidential election. |
| 1960–1967 | Aden Abdullah Osman Daar | Somalia | 1967 Somali presidential election | Abdirashid Shermarke | |
| 1961–1965 | Diosdado Macapagal | Philippines | 1965 Philippine presidential election | Ferdinand Marcos | |
| 1964–1971 | Giuseppe Saragat | Italy | 1971 Italian presidential election | Giovanni Leone | |
| 1977–1981 | Jimmy Carter | United States | 1980 United States presidential election | Ronald Reagan | Carter was the first elected president to lose a re-election bid since Herbert Hoover in 1932. |
| 1974–1981 | Valéry Giscard d'Estaing | France | 1981 French presidential election | François Mitterrand | |
| 1965–1986 | Ferdinand Marcos | Philippines | 1986 Philippine presidential election | Corazon Aquino | The final results of the election led to the belief that the polls were tampered and considered an electoral fraud. These events eventually lead to the People Power Revolution. |
| 1977–1988 | Spyros Kyprianou | Cyprus | 1988 Cypriot presidential election | George Vassiliou | Then President of the House of Representatives succeeded Archbishop Makarios III after his death in 1977. Kyprianou became president on his own right after winning the 1977 presidential by-election unopposed. He lost re-election in the first round of voting in the 1988 Cypriot presidential election, placing third. |
| 1985–1990 | Daniel Ortega | Nicaragua | 1990 Nicaraguan general election | Violeta Chamorro | Ortega later returned to power in the 2006 elections. |
| 1972–1991 | Mathieu Kérékou | Benin | 1991 Beninese presidential election | Nicéphore Soglo | |
| 1980–1991 | Aristides Pereira | Cape Verde | 1991 Cape Verdean presidential election | António Mascarenhas Monteiro | |
| 1964–1991 | Kenneth Kaunda | Zambia | 1991 Zambian general election | Frederick Chiluba | |
| 1977–1992 | Denis Sassou-Nguesso | Congo | 1992 Republic of the Congo presidential election | Pascal Lissouba | |
| 1989–1993 | George H. W. Bush | United States | 1992 United States presidential election | Bill Clinton | Some speculated that Ross Perot, the unsuccessful third candidate in the presidential race, cost Bush the election. |
| 1989–1992 | Václav Havel | Czechoslovakia | 1992 Czechoslovak presidential election | none due to the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia | Havel later elected President of the Czech Republic. |
| 1975–1993 | Didier Ratsiraka | Madagascar | 1992–93 Malagasy presidential election | Albert Zafy | Ratsiraka returned to power in 1996. |
| 1988–1993 | George Vassiliou | Cyprus | 1993 Cypriot presidential election | Glafcos Clerides | |
| 1981–1993 | André Kolingba | Central African Republic | 1993 Central African general election | Ange-Félix Patassé | |
| 1966–1994 | Hastings Banda | Malawi | 1994 Malawian general election | Bakili Muluzi | |
| 1991–1994 | Leonid Kravchuk | Ukraine | 1994 Ukrainian presidential election | Leonid Kuchma | |
| 1990–1995 | Lech Wałęsa | Poland | 1995 Polish presidential election | Aleksander Kwaśniewski | Walesa also lost 2000 election. |
| 1989–1996 | Ion Iliescu | Romania | 1996 Romanian general election | Emil Constantinescu | Iliescu returned to power in the 2000 election. Constantinescu did not run for reelection. |
| 1991–1996 | Nicéphore Soglo | Benin | 1996 Beninese presidential election | Mathieu Kérékou | |
| 1993–1996 | Albert Zafy | Madagascar | 1996 Malagasy presidential election | Didier Ratsiraka | |
| 1990–1997 | Mircea Snegur | Moldova | 1996 Moldovan presidential election | Petru Lucinschi | |
| 1990–1997 | Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat | Mongolia | 1997 Mongolian presidential election | Natsagiin Bagabandi | |
| 1981–2000 | Abdou Diouf | Senegal | 2000 Senegalese presidential election | Abdoulaye Wade | |
| 1996–2001 | Didier Ratsiraka | Madagascar | 2001 Malagasy presidential election | Marc Ravalomanana | |
| 1996–2001 | Petar Stoyanov | Bulgaria | 2001 Bulgarian presidential election | Georgi Parvanov | |
| 1996–2001 | Lyudvig Chibirov | South Ossetia | 2001 South Ossetian presidential election | Eduard Kokoity | The President of South Ossetia is only recognized as an independent head of state by some states. |
| 1998–2003 | Valdas Adamkus | Lithuania | 2002–2003 Lithuanian presidential election | Rolandas Paksas | Returned to the office in 2004. |
| 1993–2003 | Glafcos Clerides | Cyprus | 2003 Cypriot presidential election | Tassos Papadopoulos | Lost reelection in the first round of voting. |
| 2000–2004 | Hipólito Mejía | Dominican Republic | 2004 Dominican Republic presidential election | Leonel Fernández | |
| 2001–2004 | Megawati Sukarnoputri | Indonesia | 2004 Indonesian presidential election | Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono | Megawati was vice president elected by indirect votes from the Indonesian House of Representatives. She then became President after her predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid was impeached and removed from the office. In the 2004 Presidential Election, she sought reelection in the first direct presidential elections but lost to her former minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. |
| 1999–2004 | Rudolf Schuster | Slovakia | 2004 Slovak presidential election | Ivan Gašparovič | |
| 2001–2006 | Arnold Rüütel | Estonia | 2006 Estonian presidential election | Toomas Hendrik Ilves | |
| 2003–2008 | Tassos Papadopoulos | Cyprus | 2008 Cypriot presidential election | Demetris Christofias | Lost reelection in the first round of voting where he placed third. |
| 2005–2009 | Nambaryn Enkhbayar | Mongolia | 2009 Mongolian presidential election | Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj | |
| 2002–2010 | Dahir Riyale Kahin | Somaliland | 2010 Somaliland presidential election | Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo | The President of Somaliland is not diplomatically recognized as an independent head of state by the international community. |
| 2005–2010 | Viktor Yushchenko | Ukraine | 2010 Ukrainian presidential election | Viktor Yanukovich | |
| 2000–2011 | Laurent Gbagbo | Ivory Coast | 2010 Ivorian presidential election | Alassane Ouattara | Gbagbo declared President by Constitutional Council despite recognition of Outtara by the international community, leading to the Second Ivorian Civil War |
| 1991–2011 | Igor Smirnov | Transnistria | 2011 Transnistrian presidential election | Yevgeny Shevchuk | The President of Transnistria is not recognized as an independent head of state by the international community. |
| 2007–2011 | Valdis Zatlers | Latvia | 2011 Latvian presidential election | Andris Bērziņš | |
| 2007–2012 | José Ramos-Horta | East Timor | 2012 East Timorese presidential election | Taur Matan Ruak | Won the 2022 East Timorese presidential election |
| 2008–2011 | Rupiah Banda | Zambia | 2011 Zambian general election | Michael Sata | |
| 2007–2012 | Nicolas Sarkozy | France | 2012 French presidential election | François Hollande | Also ran in 2017 but lost The Republicans primary. |
| 2000–2012 | Abdoulaye Wade | Senegal | 2012 Senegalese presidential election | Macky Sall | |
| 2004–2012 | Boris Tadić | Serbia | 2012 Serbian presidential election | Tomislav Nikolić | |
| 2005–2015 | Mahinda Rajapaksa | Sri Lanka | 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election | Maithripala Sirisena | Failed after running for an unprecedented third term after a constitutional amendment. Returned as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 2019 after his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president. |
| 2007–2012 | Danilo Türk | Slovenia | 2012 Slovenian presidential election | Borut Pahor | |
| 2012–2014 | Joyce Banda | Malawi | 2014 Malawian general election | Peter Mutharika | |
| 2010–2015 | Ivo Josipović | Croatia | 2014–2015 Croatian presidential election | Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović | |
| 2010–2015 | Goodluck Jonathan | Nigeria | 2015 Nigerian presidential election | Muhammadu Buhari | |
| 2010–2015 | Bronisław Komorowski | Poland | 2015 Polish presidential election | Andrzej Duda | |
| 1994–2017 | Yahya Jammeh | The Gambia | 2016 Gambian presidential election | Adama Barrow | Jammeh initially refused to step down, causing the 2016–2017 Gambian constitutional crisis and the ECOWAS military intervention in the Gambia. |
| 2012–2017 | John Mahama | Ghana | 2016 Ghanaian general election | Nana Akufo-Addo | After later losing the 2020 election, Mahama would win the 2024 election and succeed Akufo-Addo. |
| 2011–2016 | Manuel Pinto da Costa | São Tomé and Príncipe | 2016 São Toméan presidential election | Evaristo Carvalho | |
| 2011–2016 | Yevgeny Shevchuk | Transnistria | 2016 Transnistrian presidential election | Vadim Krasnoselsky | The President of Transnistria is not recognized as an independent head of state by the international community. |
| 2012–2017 | Hassan Sheikh Mohamud | Somalia | 2017 Somali presidential election | Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed | Won the 2022 Somali presidential election. |
| 2012–2017 | Leonid Tibilov | South Ossetia | 2017 South Ossetian presidential election | Anatoly Bibilov | The President of South Ossetia is only recognized as an independent head of state by some states. |
| 2014–2018 | Hery Rajaonarimampianina | Madagascar | 2018 Malagasy presidential election | Andry Rajoelina | |
| 2014–2019 | Petro Poroshenko | Ukraine | 2019 Ukrainian presidential election | Volodymyr Zelenskyy | |
| 2015–2019 | Mauricio Macri | Argentina | 2019 Argentine presidential election | Alberto Fernández | |
| 2014–2020 | José Mário Vaz | Guinea-Bissau | 2019 Guinea-Bissau presidential election | Umaro Sissoco Embaló | |
| 2015–2020 | Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović | Croatia | 2019–2020 Croatian presidential election | Zoran Milanović | |
| 2014–2020 | Peter Mutharika | Malawi | 2020 Malawian presidential election | Lazarus Chakwera | |
| 2017–2021 | Donald Trump | United States | 2020 United States presidential election | Joe Biden | Trump refused to concede, alleging fraud and filing and ultimately losing post-election lawsuits before 86 judges. The counting of the Electoral College votes by Congress on January 6, 2021, was briefly stopped when rioters stormed the Capitol building. Joe Biden's victory was confirmed when Congress reconvened hours later. Trump later won the 2024 United States presidential election. |
| 2016–2020 | Igor Dodon | Moldova | 2020 Moldovan presidential election | Maia Sandu | Dodon alleged multiple voting irregularities including the prevention of Transnistrians from voting and interference from foreign leaders but congratulated Sandu as a precaution. Sandu became the first female president of the country. |
| 2015–2021 | Edgar Lungu | Zambia | 2021 Zambian general election | Hakainde Hichilema | |
| 2017–2022 | Francisco Guterres | East Timor | 2022 East Timorese presidential election | José Ramos-Horta | |
| 2017–2022 | Anatoly Bibilov | South Ossetia | 2022 South Ossetian presidential election | Alan Gagloev | The President of South Ossetia is only recognized as an independent head of state by some states. |
| 2017–2022 | Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed | Somalia | 2022 Somali presidential election | Hassan Sheikh Mohamud | |
| 2019–2022 | Jair Bolsonaro | Brazil | 2022 Brazilian general election | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | |
| 2018–2022 | Barham Salih | Iraq | 2022 Iraqi presidential election | Abdul Latif Rashid | |
| 2018–2023 | Ibrahim Mohamed Solih | Maldives | 2023 Maldivian presidential election | Mohamed Muizzu | |
| 2018–2024 | George Weah | Liberia | 2023 Liberian general election | Joseph Boakai | |
| 2019–2024 | Stevo Pendarovski | North Macedonia | 2024 North Macedonian presidential election | Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova | |
| 2022–2024 | Ranil Wickremesinghe | Sri Lanka | 2024 Sri Lankan presidential election | Anura Kumara Dissanayake | |
| 2019–2024 | Mokgweetsi Masisi | Botswana | 2024 Botswana general election | Duma Boko | |
| 2017–2024 | Muse Bihi Abdi | Somaliland | 2024 Somaliland presidential election | Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi | |