List of presidents who did not win reelection

This is a list of incumbent presidents in any country who ran for another term in office but were not reelected.

List

Term in office	President	Country	Lost election	Winning Successor	Notes
1797–1801	John Adams	United States	1800 United States presidential election	Thomas Jefferson	Adams placed third behind Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr. Jefferson narrowly won a contingent election in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1825–1829	John Quincy Adams	United States	1828 United States presidential election	Andrew Jackson	Jackson previously won a plurality of the popular vote against Adams in the 1824 presidential election but lost a contingent election.
1837–1841	Martin Van Buren	United States	1840 United States presidential election	William Henry Harrison	Van Buren also ran in the 1848 presidential election with the Free Soil Party.
1853–1857	Franklin Pierce	United States	1856 Democratic National Convention	James Buchanan	Pierce ran for reelection, but he was defeated at the 1856 Democratic National Convention by James Buchanan. Buchanan won the 1856 United States presidential election to become the 15th president of the United States.
1865–1869	Andrew Johnson	United States	1868 Democratic National Convention	Ulysses S. Grant	Johnson was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives and narrowly avoided conviction in the U.S. Senate. He lost the 1868 Democratic presidential nomination to Horatio Seymour.
1881–1885	Chester Arthur	United States	1884 Republican National Convention	Grover Cleveland	Arthur ran for reelection, but he was defeated at the 1884 Republican National Convention by James G. Blaine. Grover Cleveland defeated Blaine in the 1884 United States presidential election to become the 22nd president of the United States.
1885–1889	Grover Cleveland	United States	1888 United States presidential election	Benjamin Harrison	Cleveland lost the 1888 presidential election, but won the 1892 United States presidential election.
1889–1893	Benjamin Harrison	United States	1892 United States presidential election	Grover Cleveland
1909–1913	William Howard Taft	United States	1912 United States presidential election	Woodrow Wilson	Taft also ran against former President Theodore Roosevelt for the Republican nomination. After Taft won Roosevelt launched his own presidential campaign under the Progressive Party. Taft came in third behind both Wilson and Roosevelt.
1929–1933	Herbert Hoover	United States	1932 United States presidential election	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1931–1937	Pehr Evind Svinhufvud	Finland	1937 Finnish presidential election	Kyösti Kallio
1948–1953	Elpidio Quirino	Philippines	1953 Philippine presidential election	Ramon Magsaysay	Then-Vice President Quirino succeeded Manuel Roxas after the latter died in 1948. Quirino became president on his own right after winning the 1949 presidential election.
1948–1955	Luigi Einaudi	Italy	1955 Italian presidential election	Giovanni Gronchi
1955–1962	Giovanni Gronchi	Italy	1962 Italian presidential election	Antonio Segni
1957–1961	Carlos P. Garcia	Philippines	1961 Philippine presidential election	Diosdado Macapagal	Then-Vice President Garcia succeeded Ramon Magsaysay after the latter died in 1957. Garcia became president on his own right after winning the 1957 presidential election.
1960–1967	Aden Abdullah Osman Daar	Somalia	1967 Somali presidential election	Abdirashid Shermarke
1961–1965	Diosdado Macapagal	Philippines	1965 Philippine presidential election	Ferdinand Marcos
1964–1971	Giuseppe Saragat	Italy	1971 Italian presidential election	Giovanni Leone
1974–1977	Gerald R. Ford	United States	1976 United States presidential election	Jimmy Carter	Gerald R. Ford is the only person to serve as U.S. President without being elected as either President or U.S. Vice President. Ford was appointed Vice President after the resignation of Spiro Agnew in 1973, and as Vice President, succeeded Richard Nixon as President on Nixon's resignation in 1974.
1977–1981	Jimmy Carter	United States	1980 United States presidential election	Ronald Reagan	Carter was the first elected president to be refused a second term since 1932.
1965–1986	Ferdinand Marcos	Philippines	1986 Philippine presidential election	Corazon Aquino	The final results of the election led to the belief that the polls were tampered and considered an electoral fraud. These events eventually lead to the People Power Revolution.
1974–1981	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	France	1981 French presidential election	François Mitterrand
1985–1990	Daniel Ortega	Nicaragua	1990 Nicaraguan general election	Violeta Chamorro	Ortega later returned to power in the 2006 elections.
1972–1991	Mathieu Kérékou	Benin	1991 Beninese presidential election	Nicéphore Soglo
1964–1991	Kenneth Kaunda	Zambia	1991 Zambian general election	Frederick Chiluba
1989–1993	George H. W. Bush	United States	1992 United States presidential election	Bill Clinton	Some speculated that Ross Perot, the unsuccessful third candidate in the presidential race, cost Bush the election.
1989–1992	Václav Havel	Czechoslovakia	1992 Czechoslovak presidential election	none due to the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia	Havel later elected President of the Czech Republic.
1975–1993	Didier Ratsiraka	Madagascar	1992-93 Malagasy presidential election	Albert Zafy	Ratsiraka returned to power in 1996.
1987–1993	Pierre Buyoya	Burundi	1993 Burundian presidential election	Melchior Ndadaye	Buyoya returned to power in 1996.
1988–1993	George Vassiliou	Cyprus	1993 Cypriot presidential election	Glafcos Clerides
1981–1993	André Kolingba	Central African Republic	1993 Central African general election	Ange-Félix Patassé
1966–1994	Hastings Banda	Malawi	1994 Malawian general election	Bakili Muluzi
1991–1994	Leonid Kravchuk	Ukraine	1994 Ukrainian presidential election	Leonid Kuchma
1990–1995	Lech Wałęsa	Poland	1995 Polish presidential election	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
1991–1996	Nicéphore Soglo	Benin	1996 Beninese presidential election	Mathieu Kérékou
1993–1996	Albert Zafy	Madagascar	1996 Malagasy presidential election	Didier Ratsiraka
1990–1997	Mircea Snegur	Moldova	1996 Moldovan presidential election	Petru Lucinschi
1990–1997	Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat	Mongolia	1997 Mongolian presidential election	Natsagiin Bagabandi
1996-2000	Emil Constantinescu	Romania	2000 Romanian general election	Ion Iliescu
1999–2000	Robert Guéï	Ivory Coast	2000 Ivorian presidential election	Laurent Gbagbo
1981–2000	Abdou Diouf	Senegal	2000 Senegalese presidential election	Abdoulaye Wade
1996–2001	Didier Ratsiraka	Madagascar	2001 Malagasy presidential election	Marc Ravalomanana
1996–2001	Petar Stoyanov	Bulgaria	2001 Bulgarian presidential election	Georgi Parvanov
1998–2003	Valdas Adamkus	Lithuania	2002–03 Lithuanian presidential election	Rolandas Paksas	Returned to the office in 2004.
2000-2004	Hipólito Mejía	Dominican Republic	2004 Dominican Republic presidential election	Leonel Fernández
2001–2004	Megawati Sukarnoputri	Indonesia	2004 Indonesian presidential election	Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono	Also lost 2009 election.
1999–2004	Rudolf Schuster	Slovakia	2004 Slovak presidential election	Ivan Gašparovič
2001–2006	Arnold Rüütel	Estonia	2006 Estonian presidential election	Toomas Hendrik Ilves
2005–2009	Nambaryn Enkhbayar	Mongolia	2009 Mongolian presidential election	Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
2002–2010	Dahir Riyale Kahin	Somaliland	2010 Somaliland presidential election	Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo	The President of Somaliland is not diplomatically recognized as an independent head of state by the international community.
2005–2010	Viktor Yushchenko	Ukraine	2010 Ukrainian presidential election	Viktor Yanukovich
2000–2011	Laurent Gbagbo	Ivory Coast	2010 Ivorian presidential election	Alassane Ouattara	Gbagbo declared President by Constitutional Council despite recognition of Outtara by the international community, leading to the Second Ivorian Civil War
1991–2011	Igor Smirnov	Transnistria	2011 Transnistrian presidential election	Yevgeny Shevchuk	The President of Transnistria is not recognized as an independent head of state by the international community.
2007–2011	Valdis Zatlers	Latvia	2011 Latvian presidential election	Andris Bērziņš
2007-2012	José Ramos-Horta	East Timor	2012 East Timorese presidential election	Taur Matan Ruak
2008–2011	Rupiah Banda	Zambia	2011 Zambian general election	Michael Sata
2007–2012	Nicolas Sarkozy	France	2012 French presidential election	François Hollande	Also ran in 2017 but lost The Republicans primary.
2000–2012	Abdoulaye Wade	Senegal	2012 Senegalese presidential election	Macky Sall
2004–2012	Boris Tadić	Serbia	2012 Serbian presidential election	Tomislav Nikolić
2005-2015	Mahinda Rajapaksa	Sri Lanka	2015 Sri Lankan presidential election	Maithripala Sirisena	Failed after running for an unprecedented third term after a constitutional amendment. But returned as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 2019 after his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected as the President.
2007–2012	Danilo Türk	Slovenia	2012 Slovenian presidential election	Borut Pahor
2012–2014	Joyce Banda	Malawi	2014 Malawian general election	Peter Mutharika
2010–2015	Ivo Josipović	Croatia	2014–15 Croatian presidential election	Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović
2010–2015	Goodluck Jonathan	Nigeria	2015 Nigerian presidential election	Muhammadu Buhari
2010–2015	Bronisław Komorowski	Poland	2015 Polish presidential election	Andrzej Duda
1994–2017	Yahya Jammeh	The Gambia	2016 Gambian presidential election	Adama Barrow	Jammeh initially refused to step down, causing the 2016–17 Gambian constitutional crisis and the ECOWAS military intervention in the Gambia.
2012–2017	John Mahama	Ghana	2016 Ghanaian general election	Nana Akufo-Addo
2011–2016	Manuel Pinto da Costa	São Tomé and Príncipe	2016 São Toméan presidential election	Evaristo Carvalho
2011–2016	Yevgeny Shevchuk	Transnistria	2016 Transnistrian presidential election	Vadim Krasnoselsky	The President of Transnistria is not recognized as an independent head of state by the international community.
2012–2017	Hassan Sheikh Mohamud	Somalia	2017 Somali presidential election	Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
2012–2017	Leonid Tibilov	South Ossetia	2017 South Ossetian presidential election	Anatoly Bibilov	The President of South Ossetia is only recognized as an independent head of state by some states.
2014–2018	Hery Rajaonarimampianina	Madagascar	2018 Malagasy presidential election	Andry Rajoelina
2014–2019	Petro Poroshenko	Ukraine	2019 Ukrainian presidential election	Volodymyr Zelensky
2015–2019	Mauricio Macri	Argentina	2019 Argentine presidential election	Alberto Fernández
2014–2020	José Mário Vaz	Guinea-Bissau	2019 Guinea-Bissau presidential election	Umaro Sissoco Embaló
2015–2020	Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović	Croatia	2019–20 Croatian presidential election	Zoran Milanović
2014–2020	Peter Mutharika	Malawi	2020 Malawian presidential election	Lazarus Chakwera
2019–2020	Jeanine Áñez	Bolivia	2020 Bolivian general election	Luis Arce	Áñez took office in her capacity as second Vice President of the Senate after the resignation of Evo Morales in 2019. She initially ran to be officially approved by voters but dropped out of the race on September 17, 2020, a month before the election, trailing fourth in polls.
2017–2021	Donald Trump	United States	2020 United States presidential election	Joe Biden	Trump refused to concede defeat stating that his opponents committed voter fraud, and argued that he was the true winner of the election. The counting of the Electoral College votes by Congress on January 6, 2021, was briefly stopped when rioters stormed the Capitol building. Joe Biden's victory was confirmed when Congress reconvened hours later.
2016–2020	Igor Dodon	Moldova	2020 Moldovan presidential election	Maia Sandu	Dodon alleged multiple voting irregularities including the prevention of Transnistrians from voting and interference from foreign leaders but congratulated Sandu as a precaution. Sandu became the first female president of the country.