With Massive Win, Macron Joins the Young Leaders' Club

Alline

Editor

posted on 7 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Here is a look at those who were still a little wet behind the ears when they attained high executive office

Paris: Pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron promised Sunday to heal France's divisions after crushing far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a pivotal presidential election that has given him a large but fragile mandate for change. At 39, the pro-EU former investment banker will become France's youngest-ever leader.

Here is a look at those who were still a little wet behind the ears when they attained high executive office:

Young leaders

Hungary: Viktor Orban became prime minister in 1998 at the age of 35. He left office in 2002 but took over again in 2010.

Belgium: Charles Michel became prime minister in 2014 at the age of 38 to become the country's youngest leader since 1840.

Estonia: Juri Ratas became prime minister in late 2016 at the age of 38.

Ukraine: Volodymyr Groysman was appointed prime minister in 2016 at the age of 38.

Greece: Alexis Tsipras was named prime minister in 2015 at the age of 40, the youngest Greek leader in 150 years.

Tunisia: Prime Minister Youssef Chahed was 40 when he took office in 2016, the youngest since Tunisian independence in 1956.

Canada: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was 43 when he took office in 2015.

Poland: President Andrzej Duda won election in 2015 at the age of 43.

Georgia: President Giorgi Margvelashvili took the oath of office in 2013 at the age of 44.

Looking back

Felipe Gonzalez was head of the Spanish government in 1982 at the age of 40. Tony Blair became the British premier in 1997 at the age of 43. Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan's premier in 1988 at the age of 35, and Laurent Fabius was French premier in 1984 at 37.

US president Theodore Roosevelt was 42 when he took office, and John F. Kennedy was 43.

In France, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was previously the youngest leader, at 40 years old in 1848 and under a different political regime, followed by Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the youngest under the current system, at 48 in 1974.

Excluding democratic governments, notable young leaders at the moment include North Korea's Kim Jong-un, 34, and the emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, 36.

And not forgetting Moamer Kadhafi, who came to power in Libya in 1969, aged 27.