History Main / PermanentElectedOfficial

* Creator/ISaacAsimov's ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': In "Literature/TheMerchantPrinces", the Commdors of the Republic of Korell are elected once, and rule the nation for the rest of their life.

* [[AncientConspiracy The Enclave]] in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' has such Presidents. There is [[PresidentEvil President Richardson]] who was serving his sixth term by VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}} and won otherwise democratic elections as there were no other candidates, and there is [[AIIsACrapshoot President Eden]] who proclaimed himself President after the former's death and has been the President for over thirty years.

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Regina Mills (formerly known as [[Literature/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs the Evil Queen]]) is always Mayor of Storybrooke, Maine, due to the terms of the curse placed upon its inhabitants. The citizenry rationalizes this by assuming that everyone is simply too afraid to run against her, even though no one actually seems to like her enough to vote for her.

'''Mayor Quimby:''' ''[while watering pot plants in his office]'' Hey! I am no longer illiterate!

* The Commdors of the Republic of Korell in Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' are a ''dynasty'' of these.
* In David Weber's ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', this happens with dismaying regularity.

** Legends also explains this was the case for Mon Mothma when she led the Rebel Alliance. There was a vote held every two years where it was decided if she would continue leading, but throughout the Galactic Civil War, she was never voted out. She later became the New Republic's first Chief of State, but would resign during the events of the ''Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy''.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Many Third-World dictators held the post of President-for-Life. When flatterers in his administration pushed Tanzanian President Julius Nyrere to take this post he refused, noting there was only one way to get rid of a President-for-Life.[[/folder]]

* [[AuthorAvatar Chris-Chan]] in ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}'' is this, taken UpToEleven : CWCville (which was named after him) was founded ''before he was even born'', seemingly for the sole purpose of him having a place to rule over.

%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease''' [[noreallife]]

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease''' In RealLife democracies, it is not even possible to be elected "permanently" into office considering that the official has to go through re-elections and all that (Except if there's a walkover if only one candidate runs, as in Irish presidential elections), especially if the office in question has term limits. One could stay in office for a long time if there are no term limits on his position, although the official still has to have a good approval rating to stay put. This isn't even going into recall votes and impeachment. The only official that can perhaps stay "permanently" in office would be a full-fledged dictator (many of whom do hold sham elections to get "re-elected" periodically), and dictators are not what this trope is about. [[noreallife]]

[[quoteright:270:[[Webcomic/SomethingPositive https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/running-unopposed_5544.jpg]] ]]
[[caption-width-right:270:Sometimes, these folks run as good as unopposed.]]

'''Mayor Quimby:''' ''[while watering pot plants in his office]'' Hey! [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne I am no longer illiterate!]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' it's possible for leaders to attain immortality or something close to it and keep getting re-elected endlessly, provided you have a government type that allows regular elections. You can even spend influence resource points to all-but-ensure re-election if said leader has really useful bonuses.

In episodic media, this may overlap with VetinariJobSecurity: the politician (more often incompetent than corrupt in those cases) ''does'' get replaced-- and his replacement proves far worse, thus the heroes have to try and get the previous buffoon back into power.

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease''' In RealLife democracies, it is not even possible to be elected "permanently" into office considering that the official has to go through re-elections and all that (Except if there's a walkover if only one candidate runs, as in Irish presidential elections), especially if the office in question has term limits. One could stay in office for a long time if there are no term limits on his position, although the official still have to have a good approval rating to stay put. This isn't even going into recall votes and impeachment. The only official that can perhaps stay "permanently" in office would be a full-fledged dictator (many of whom do hold sham elections to get "re-elected" periodically), and dictators are not what this trope is about. [[noreallife]]

* Mayor Papazoni of ''Anime/{{Pecola}}'' definitely fits into this mold. He is fond of giving long-winded speeches, but then simply pops into one of his many hidey-holes whenever somebody questions what he's going to actually ''do'' for the town. They state that the only reason that he keeps getting elected is because nobody else will take the job.
* The Kage in ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'' are elected by the village elders and appointed by the feudal lord who runs the nation. The appointment is for life or until voluntary retirement. Of course the lack of Kage being removed might simply be because they're too powerful to risk insulting.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' establishes that Palpatine's 13 years as Supreme Chancellor in the prequels is not the norm and there terms limits. However being TheChessmaster he is, Palpatine engineered crisis after crisis so he could stay in office. Then at the end of the Clone Wars he declared himself Emperor and the post stopped being an elective position.
** Legends also explains this was the case for Mon Mothma when she led the Rebel Alliance. There was a vote held every two years where it was decided if she would continue leading, but throughout the Galactic Civil War she was never voted out. She later became the New Republic's first Chief of State, but would resign during the events of the ''Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy''.

* OlderThanRadio: The character translated as Mayor in Gogol's ''Theatre/TheInspectorGeneral'' (1836), who is a powerful CorruptHick with more powers than a mayor would be thought of as having. This being Czarist Russia, there was neither a press nor was central bureaucracy as strong as today. Of course he had more power than a mayor of a comparable town today.

* In ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'', Nucky Thompson seems to be this at first, but by the end of the season we see that his hold on power is much more fragile than it appears. The mayor and the Commodore both thought that they had achieved this status, but it was revoked when they lost Nucky's backing due to a changing political climate.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'', there's Karl Prosek, of the [[TheEmpire Coalition States]]. He was elected Chairman after the death of the previous head, his father. He then secretly started a grass roots campaign that got him elected Emperor-for-Life. He's not incompetent, nor is he corrupt, but under his reign, the Coalition has become more and more intolerant of [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman non-humans]] and magic users, and its populace has become more and more ignorant and xenophobic. In a way, he's actually worse than an outright tyrant, because he's convinced the citizens of the Coalition that his draconian measures are for their own protection, and they cheerfully obey his every wish.

** In the original game you would be ousted by "an angry mob, led by your mother" if you fail to achieve the objectives in scenario mode.

** Tortimer, the mayor of the town in the first three games. He doesn't appear to actually ''do'' anything mayorly. There are never any elections (that you witness, anyway, no matter how long you play--apparently mayors in your town are elected for life), so it's not entirely clear that he ever ''was'' elected. This is lampshaded in TheMovie, where there ''is'' a mayoral election, and Tortimer wins by one vote. The ''only'' vote. Which he cast. The only reason he isn't mayor in ''New Leaf'' is because he retired.

* Mayor Quimby of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' who tends to get voted back into office due to voter apathy, corruption, and the fact that the republican party can't pick a candidate to oppose him. When they do, they picked Sideshow Bob (a known criminal).

[[folder:Comic Book]]

** Legends also explains this was the case for Mon Mothma when she lead the Rebel Alliance. There was a vote held every two years where it was decided if she would continue leading, but throughout the Galactic Civil War she was never voted out. She later became the New Republic's first Chief of State, but would resign during the events of the ''Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy''.

* In ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'', Nucky Thompson seems to be this at first, but by the end of the season we see that his hold on power is much more fragile that it appears. The mayor and the Commodore both thought that they had achieved this status, but it was revoked when they lost Nucky's backing due to a changing political climate.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'', Dona Paloma has been Avalor's Magister of Trade for the past several years. She's won all of her past elections because [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating everyone else is too scared to run against her]]... until Season 2, where Chancellor Esteban suggests to Julio to run against her when the latter expresses frustration with her {{jerkass}} tendencies. Julio ends up winning [[HundredPercentAdorationRating unanimously]], although Paloma is hired as his assistant due to Julio's inexperience and Esteban feeling bad for her.

** Legends also explains this was the case for Mon Mothma when she lead the Rebel Alliance. There was a vote held every two years where it was decided if she would continue leading, but throughout the Galactic Civil War she was never voted out. She later became the New Republic's first Chief of State, but would resign during the events of ''Literature/TheJediAcademyTrilogy''.

* On ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', [[Garry is revealed to have spend the rest of his life as Mayor of Pawnee, winning each election thanks to an adoring public.]]

* Veronica, in ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'', is the appointed head of the Guild which runs the town; she effectively serves as the mayor. If the player character is male and romances her daughter Angela, it's explained that Angela is trying to prove that she's capable of taking over the post when her mother decides to retire, suggesting that Guildmistress is both this trope and hereditary.