Commonwealth Chair-in-Office
Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth of Nations |
|
---|---|
Term length | 2 years |
Inaugural holder | Thabo Mbeki |
Formation | 12 November 1999 |
Website | Chair-in-Office |
The Commonwealth Chair-in-Office (CIO) is the Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth of Nations, and is one of the main leadership positions in the Commonwealth. It is held by the host chairperson of the previous Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), and is maintained until the next CHOGM.[1]
The primary responsibility of the Chair-in-Office is to host the CHOGM, but their roles can be expanded. For example, after the 2002 CHOGM, the incumbent, previous, and next Chairmen-in-Office formed a troika in an attempt to resolve the ongoing dispute over Zimbabwe's membership of the Commonwealth.
The position was created after the 1999 CHOGM, with Thabo Mbeki becoming the first Chair-in-Office. However, Mbeki did very little to develop the position, leaving it virtually vacant until the next CHOGM, in 2002, when the troika was created. Even after John Howard became Chair, the troika's first meeting was in London, in the presence of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, whose office drafted the troika's statement: leaving little role for the troika itself, but potentially increasing the power of the Secretary-General. The third Chair, Olusegun Obasanjo, did more to invigorate the role of the position after taking over in 2003.[2]
Since the assumption of the role at the 2009 CHOGM, representatives from Trinidad and Tobago, including the Prime Ministers, have attended Commonwealth meetings, including 2011 Commonwealth Day celebrations where Persad-Bissessar, the first female to chair the Commonwealth, gave the keynote address. Sri Lanka was also slated to host the much anticipated Commonwealth Economic Forum in 2011, however, it was held in Perth, Australia due to accusations of war atrocities committed during the Sri Lankan Civil War.
As Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard succeeded Persad-Bissessar as the second female Chair at the 2011 CHOGM. Julia Gillard was in-turn succeeded by Kevin Rudd after resigning as Prime Minister of Australia on 27 June 2013. Rudd went on to lose the Australian federal election in September 2013, and was subsequently succeeded by the new prime minister Tony Abbott. Abbott remained in the position until Commonwealth leaders met for the 23rd time on 15 November 2013, where he was succeeded by the President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was succeeded by Maithripala Sirisena in 2015.[3]
List of Chairs-in-Office
Elizabeth II (1999–present)
# | Name | Country | Title | CHOGM | Start | End |
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1 | Thabo Mbeki | ![]() |
President | 1999 | 12th November 1999 | 2nd March 2002 |
2 | John Howard | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 2002 | 2nd March 2002 | 5th December 2003 |
3 | Olusegun Obasanjo | ![]() |
President | 2003 | 5th December 2003 | 25th November 2005 |
4 | Lawrence Gonzi | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 2005 | 25th November 2005 | 23rd November 2007 |
5 | Yoweri Museveni | ![]() |
President | 2007 | 23rd November 2007 | 27th November 2009 |
6 | Patrick Manning[4] | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 2009 | 27th November 2009 | 25th May 2010[4] |
7 | Kamla Persad-Bissessar[5] | None[5] | 26th May 2010[5] | 28th October 2011 | ||
8 | Julia Gillard | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 2011 | 28th October 2011 | 27th June 2013 |
9 | Kevin Rudd | None | 27th June 2013 | 18th September 2013 | ||
10 | Tony Abbott | None | 18th September 2013 | 15th November 2013 | ||
11 | Mahinda Rajapaksa | ![]() |
President | 2013 | 15th November 2013 | 9th January 2015 |
12 | Maithripala Sirisena | None | 9th January 2015 | 27th November 2015 | ||
13 | Joseph Muscat | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 2015 | 27th November 2015 | Incumbent |
Footnotes
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