Answers: Electoral Generals

Military figures who transitioned to electoral politics

Prabowo Subianto was sworn in as Indonesia’s President on October 20. The former general’s sweeping electoral win in March inspired me to publish a quiz on military figures and coup leaders who successfully transitioned to electoral politics. Prabowo, a former head of Indonesia’s elite special forces, the Kopassus, has a controversial history. He was accused of overseeing the kidnapping and torture of political opponents of longtime leader Suharto in the final phase of his decades-long presidency. Rights groups also say Prabowo was involved in massacres in East Timor, which was controlled by Indonesia from 1975 to 1999. Prabowo has denied any wrongdoing. The victorious campaign saw Prabowo rebranding himself as a cuddly grandpa on TikTok, after two straight defeats against outgoing president Joko Widodo.

The questions exclude generals who retained power by holding dubious elections.

Answers:

1) Another former general became Indonesia’s first directly elected president in 2004. He was the military chief’s top aide in 1998 and held talks with politicians and activists calling for Suharto’s resignation, eventually concluding Suharto should leave office (in contrast to the hardline position taken by Sukarno’s then son-in-law Prabowo). Who?

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. More here.

2) A lieutenant general and number two in the army in 1986, Fidel Ramos abandoned support for his country’s long-time dictator, joining a popular movement for democracy along with many soldiers. The dictatorship was overthrown shortly after. Ramos was made military chief and then defence secretary, thwarting multiple coup attempts. He successfully ran for president in 1992 and presided over a period of economic growth. Which country?

The Philippines. More here.

3) While a paratroop commander in the army he led a failed coup in 1992. He was elected president in 1998 and was re-elected multiple times until his death in 2013 (he was briefly ousted in a coup in 2002 but returned to power in 47 hours). Which South American leader?

Hugo Chavez, Venezuela. More about Chavez’s love for baseball in my earlier quiz here on Baseball Beyond the U.S.

4) Ollanta Humala was an army lieutenant colonel when he led a failed coup along with his brother in 2000. He unsuccessfully ran for president in 2006 on a leftist platform with the endorsement of the South American leader in the previous question. He won on his second attempt in 2011 when he adopted a more centrist approach. Humala was later jailed in a corruption case. Which country?

Peru. Ollanta Humala’s coup attempt came during the scandal-tarred final phase of Alberto Fujimori’s presidency. More on Fujimori and his divisive legacy in my quiz here.

5) On December 31, 1983 this Major General led a coup just a few months after elections were held. He was named head of state. But in August 1985 he was overthrown by the chief of army staff, another key player in the 1983 coup. He ran for president unsuccessfully three times after the restoration of democratic elections in 1999. He won on his fourth try in 2015 and secured another term in 2019. Who and which African country?

Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria.

6) Another general now from the same country in the previous question. He was the military ruler from 1976 until 1979, when he presided over democratic elections and became the first military ruler in his country to hand over power to an elected civilian government. He was imprisoned in the 1990s for opposing the military government. He was elected president in 1999 as the country returned to democracy and was re-elected four years later (In 2003 he defeated the general in the previous question). Who?

Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria. More here. During his second stint as leader, Obasanjo helped resolve internal conflicts in other African countries, especially Liberia. A 2003 deal involved Nigeria granting asylum to Liberian warlord Charles Taylor. He disappeared in March 2006, soon after Nigeria agreed to hand him over to a war crimes tribunal. But he was arrested days later and extradited.

After his presidential years, Obasanjo has been a key mediator in efforts to end multiple conflicts across Africa, ranging from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Ethiopia.

My earlier quizzes that covered the recent conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia here and here.

7) A Major General during the War of 1812 against the British, this future U.S. president led his troops to victory in New Orleans. He lost a closely contested presidential race in 1824 but went on to win in 1828 and 1832. Who?

Andrew Jackson. More here. My earlier quiz on U.S. Presidential Inaugurations below has more on the wild party at the White House after Jackson was sworn in for his first term.

8) A veteran of World War I, he wrote an influential book in 1934 advocating the extensive use of tanks (The Army of the Future). He briefly headed a provisional government in the aftermath of World War II. He retired from politics in 1953 only to return as an indirectly elected president in 1958, spearheading constitutional changes. In 1965 he was elected for a second term, this time in a direct vote. Who?

Charles de Gaulle. More here, here and here.

9) X led his country’s defeated military in World War I. He was elected president in 1925, in the country’s first direct elections for the post. X was re-elected in 1932 defeating Y. But Y’s party was the single-largest party in parliamentary elections and Y became head of government in January 1933. After X’s death in 1934, Y abolished the presidency. Name X and Y. (Hint: An aircraft was named after X)

X is Paul von Hindenburg and Y is Adolf Hitler. More here.

10) He was a Flight Lieutenant in his country’s air force and led a failed coup in 1979. While awaiting execution he was freed by allies in the military and went on to launch a successful coup. He initiated polls soon only to topple the elected leader in a second coup. Eventually in the 1990s he presided over a transition to multi-party democracy, was elected twice as president and handed over power at the end of his second term in 2001. Who and which West African country?

Jerry Rawlings, Ghana. More here, here, here, here, here and here.

11) Israel has a history of military chiefs transitioning to political leadership. One of them is Benny Gantz, currently part of the war cabinet (Gantz resigned in June 2024). Two former top generals became elected prime ministers later. Name them.

Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak. Rabin was the military chief in 1967 as Israel defeated a coalition of Arab states and seized the Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Rabin was Prime Minister from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1992 to 1995 when he was assassinated. More here.

12) Petr Pavel was elected president of his Central European country in 2023. He was earlier the army chief and the chair of NATO's military committee. In 1993, his unit rescued a group of French soldiers trapped in Croatia as civil war raged in a collapsing Yugoslavia. Petr Pavel is the president of which country?

Czechia (Czech Republic). More here and here.

13) This general led the Union forces to victory in the American civil war and was later elected president for two terms as a Republican. Who?

Ulysses S. Grant. More here and here.

14) Otto Perez Molina was elected president in 2011 after a failed run in 2007. He was the first former general to be elected president after the restoration of democracy in his country in 1986. Accused of rights abuses during his country’s long civil war, he was involved in peace talks and signed the peace agreement in 1996 on behalf of the army. In 2015 he became the first president in his country’s history to resign over a corruption scandal and was arrested hours later. Which country?

Guatemala. More here, here and here.

15) Desi Bouterse was a sergeant in the army when he led a coup and overthrew his country’s elected government in 1980. A civilian government was elected in 1987 but Bouterse stayed on as military chief. He staged another coup in 1990 but allowed elections the next year. Two decades later Bouterse was elected president in 2010 and served until 2020 when his party was defeated in parliamentary elections. He’s been missing since January 2024 after being sentenced for the murder of political opponents in 1982. Which country? (Hint: former Dutch colony. He was also convicted of drug trafficking by a court in the Netherlands) 

Suriname

16) This Pacific island nation saw two former coup leaders battle for power in parliamentary elections in 2022. The incumbent had staged a coup in 2006, formed a political party and led it to two electoral wins. The rival led two military coups in the 1980s and was an elected prime minister in the 1990s. The incumbent lost in a close race in 2022. Which country?

Fiji. Sitiveni Rabuka ended Frank Bainimarama’s 16-year-long grip on power.

17) The son of a former U.S. president, Robert Taft was the most influential Republican Senator in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A vocal proponent of an isolationist foreign policy, he launched a presidential bid. Moderate and internationalist Republicans sought an alternative in a serving general who ultimately became the party’s presidential nominee after a hard-fought primary contest. Who defeated Taft to become the successful Republican contender for president?

Dwight D. Eisenhower