By announcing his candidacy for a second term in the 2024 United States presidential election, 80-year-old Joe Biden has joined the narrow club of elected world leaders who are now in the eighties or even nineties.
Cameroonian President Paul Biya is the world's oldest elected leader, at 90 years old, nicknamed the Sphinx because of his tendency to secrecy as well as for his intractable personality, having ruled the Central African country absolutely for 40 years and violently silenced all political opposition.
Since his controversial re-election in 2018, he has only appeared on the occasion of rare pre-recorded televised speeches.
In second place is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), who has headed the Palestinian National Authority since 2005 after five decades under Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, at the age of 5.
Although his term ends in 2009, the Palestinian president remains in office and his popularity has declined over the years. Seen abroad as a moderate figure, he is the main architect by the Palestinians of the historic Oslo Accords signed in 1993, which laid the foundations for a settlement of the conflict with Israel but have not materialized a quarter of a century after the signing of the accords.
Mahmoud Abbas is the main architect of the historic Oslo Accords signed in 1993 with Israel (French)
In Africa, the age and tenure of leaders in power regularly break records: In Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has ruled the country since the end of 2017 after a military coup, is 80 years old. He is nicknamed the "Crocodile" because of his cruelty.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema, president of Equatorial Guinea since the coup 43 years ago, is also 80. He holds the world record for the length of stay in power for a surviving head of state, except for kings.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has just turned 81. The economist adopted a promising policy of major works, but his election in 2020 with a very high score for a third term damaged his image, as the opposition accuses him of being a "dictator".
At the age of 81, Haji Jingob has since 2014 headed Namibia, a vast semi-Saharan state in southern Africa that was one of the last on the continent to gain independence in 1990.
Alassane Ouattara, president of Ivory Coast, turns 81 (Anatolia)
From Africa to Europe, where 82-year-old Irish Michael D. Higgins, Ireland's ninth president, was elected by direct universal suffrage but without executive functions, and began his second seven-year term at the end of 7. Woody Higgins is known for his passion for poetry and for his dogs that sometimes steal the spotlight from him on formal occasions.
In Malta, President George Vella, 81, has also held an honorary position since 2019.
In Italy, the popular Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who was elected in early 2015 by indirect universal suffrage by parliament, celebrated his 81st birthday.
Mattarella is seen as the key man who calmly solves Italy's recurring political crises. He also represents Italy at the celebrations, an opportunity to criticize the mafia that killed his brother in Sicily in 1980.
After repeating that he would not run for a second term, he accepted in early 2022 to put himself "at the disposal" of his country for a second term of 7 years.