Countries where the same leaders run, even after losing

[Jacobtm]

In the U.S. if you run for President and lose, you don't run for President again. At least as a Democrat or a Republican.

Nixon was the last guy to pull off that move, after waiting a cycle.

In Mexico, AMLO just barely lost, again. I don't know if another PD/PT Candidate could have won there, but it might be worth trying to avoid putting the same loser up over and over....

[Tender Branson]

In Austria, Kurt Waldheim (ÖVP) ran for President in 1971 and lost 47-53.

He tried again in 1986 and won 54-46.

[Smid]

Lazarus with a triple bypass in Australia.

[Peeperkorn]

Rajoy lost two times against Zapatero before winning.

[MaxQue]

Harper lost in 2004, before winning in 2006.
Both Mitterand (1965, 1994) and Chirac (1981, 1988) ran two times before winning in France.

[Franzl]

Helmut Kohl

[Silent Hunter]

Harold Wilson was re-elected in 1974 after losing here in 1970. Also, Winston Churchill.

[MaxQue]

Mackenzie King and Trudeau lost power, before regaining it later.
(At Quebec level, we have Bourassa too, through he left politics between his loss and his return.)

[bore]

Gladstone, and to a lesser extent Disraeli, are great examples of this.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It was a tradition in France, with Mitterrand and Chirac both losing twice before being eventually elected. This tradition is probably gone, now (though Royal attempted to run and failed miserably in the primaries).

[Hash]

Giscard wanted to run again in 1988 and 1995, and before that he briefly considered a first run in 1969. He also ran for mayor of Clermont-Ferrand (and lost) in 1995, and was president of the Auvergne region between 1986 and 2004. He was defeated in the 2004 regional elections.

[minionofmidas]

A lot depends on how the parties and their selection process are set up, obviously. Also, whether it is possible (due to the party system as opposed to anything about the party's internal workings) to emerge as moral victor while losing - the last time that was possible in the US was probably in 1944.

[You kip if you want to...]

In the U.S. if you run for President and lose, you don't run for President again. At least as a Democrat or a Republican.

Erm...

[minionofmidas]

You can emerge moral victor / unscathed / still viable from a lost primary campaign in America, not (anymore) a general election.

[Hatman 🍁]

More common in parliamentary democracies of course, where a leader might stay on even if they lose,  but increase their seat total. Gary Doer was leader of the NDP for 11 years before finally being elected Premier. And then he was Premier for 10 more years. (That means he was leader of the party for 21 years!)

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

Sweden has several.

Thorbjörn Fälldin narrowly lost to Olof Palme in '73, but won in '76.
Likewise even though Palme lost in '76 and '79, he remained leader and became Prime Minister again in 82.

Then Palme's successor Ingvar Carlsson beat Carl Bildt in the '88 election, Bildt stayed-on as leader and beat Carlsson in the '91 election, Carlsson stayed-on as leader and beat Bildt again in 94.

   

[Supersonic]

Wilson, Churchill, Baldwin and MacDonald all lost elections in the UK, yet were re-elected at later points.

[RogueBeaver]

The LPC has often picked the previous convention's runner-up as their new leader. Turner lost in 1968 but won in 1984, Chretien lost in 1984 but won in 1990, Martin won in 2003 but lost in 1990, Iggy was couped in as the runner-up from 2006. Bob Rae is now interim leader but lost the permanent leadership in 2006/8.

For the Tories, Joe Clark made a belly-flop comeback as PC leader in 1998 5 years after leaving politics and 18 years after his 1980 defeat.

In Quebec we had Duplessis, Sauve, Bourassa, Levesque, Parizeau, both Daniel Johnsons, Jean Charest all lose one or more of the following: an election, a leadership race, or their own seat at one point in their careers. More recently Pauline Marois won the PQ leadership in 2007 after being defeated in 1985 and 2005, plus she lost the 2008 election by a much narrower margin than expected.


Ontario:  Rae, Harris, McGuinty all lost their first elections.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Willy Brandt: lost in 1961 and 1965, won in 1969 and 1972

Helmut Kohl: lost in 1976 (and also in 1998 ), won in 1983, 1987, 1990, and 1994

[Antonio the Sixth]

Willy Brandt: lost in 1961 and 1965, won in 1969 and 1972

Helmut Kohl: lost in 1976 (and also in 1998 ), won in 1983, 1987, 1990, and 1994

I am still amazed by how long Kohl managed to hold on as Chancellor.

[phk]

Pakistan

[danny]

This is the norm in Israel, In fact this even happens after a PM resigns because of a scandal (Rabin) or losing the confidence of parliament (Barak).

[YL]

The last leader of either Labour or the Tories not to resign after a clear defeat was Kinnock in 1987.  However I think Hague could have stayed on after 2001 if he'd wanted to.

I suspect that whoever loses next time out of Cameron and Miliband will go; neither seems to have enough credit with their party to hold on after a defeat.

[Foucaulf]

We've established this is accepted in parliamentary systems. Let's take a look at presidential systems:

-Antonio and Hash already talked about France. I'll add that it is less likely for the same Socialist candidate to run twice following their introduction of U.S.-style primaries.

-Nigeria's ruling PDP hasn't lost power since the end of military rule, but they have a rule which alternates their presidents between Christians and Muslims. The opposition is very much personality based, like military dictator turned perennial candidate Muhammdu Bihari.

-Most Latin American countries have only developed a multiparty democracy in recent years, so politics are still personality-based. During single-party rule countries like Uruguay would have party leaders serving multiple presidencies. Another example is Peru, where parties are essentially outfits of perennial candidates.

-South Korea has political wings as the focus rather than political parties; parties change their name repeatedly and merge with others. Major figures during the democratic transition like Kim Dae-jung - Mr. Sunshine Policy - figured in the democratic process.


The problem is that the presidential system puts so much focus on one personality, so most countries see a bunch of powerful figures fighting back forth or party elites suppressing other factions to maintain their candidate. The States is a special case. The Democrats and Republicans are decentralized, and the political focus is on building coalitions rather than hammering a certain ideology. A presidential candidate climbs to the nomination by assembling a certain coalition, but his defeat gives other factions a window of opportunity to support a different presidential candidate four years later.

[Edu]

In Argentina Ricardo Balbin was a major party candidate (UCR) in 4 elections and he never won.