This is when a dictator tries to make sure they are in power permanently by taking the title "President For Life", making them a ''de facto'' monarch who happens to have a republican title.

This does not include leaders who simply happened to expire before their predefined terms did. Nor does it include leaders who served multiple terms via show (or, in some cases, legitimate) elections where there was no other candidate. This is about doing away with elections or term limits ''altogether.''

Definitely a sign of a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny, and very often a PresidentEvil. Whether they actually serve for the rest of their lives is quite another question -- [[OnlyServesForLife as is how long they live after attaining such a position.]]

This makes distinguishing between "republic" and "monarchy" (especially if the dictator is President For Life of a HereditaryRepublic) a RoyalMess (e.g. Samoa's entry in the Real Life section), and there have been cases of a President For Life crossing that line and declaring himself King or Emperor, becoming a Monarch in name as well (Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic/Empire is the most recent example).

A subtrope of InItForLife. Compare: TheGeneralissimo and JustTheFirstCitizen, with which there is often overlap (especially the former). Contrast PermanentElectedOfficial. A President for life should always remember that he or she OnlyServesForLife. If a President for life remains as a ruler even after they died, it becomes TheNecrocracy. If someone is effectively permanently in charge while ostensibly representing someone else, they may be a RegentForLife.
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!Examples

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[[folder:Comics]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}:'' The Iron Man of one world Weapon X get sent to has become this, thanks to several decades of manipulation meaning everyone was ''grateful'' when Tony Stark humbly agreed to be president for life of what was left of America, after saving it from two wars and a virulent disease. Both of which he ''caused''. Weapon X's job is setting in motion the events that lead to his death.
* In ''ComicBook/Flashpoint1999'', JFK was elected to a ''tenth'' term and is still in power by the time of the story.
* In the future of ''ComicBook/{{Marvel 1602}}'', the US gets a President-for-Life as a HeroKiller dictator (strongly implied to be Zebediah Kilgrave, the Purple Man), prompting ComicBook/CaptainAmerica to travel back in time.
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[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* ''Fanfic/TheVictorsProject'': Much like his eventual successor, Coriolanus Snow, President Lucius rules for 3-5 decades without having to do something as trivial as run for reelection. Most if not all of the Presidents between Snow and Lucius are also this, albeit because their presidencies, and their lives, are pretty short-lived.
* ''Fanfic/CoreLine'' has a downplayed (and rare heroic, and even more rare having had the "for life" part ''elected by the public with full informed consent'') example with the Governor-For-Life of Michigan: ''[[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers Optimus Prime]]''.
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[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/LicenceToKill'', BigBad Sanchez warns the president of the BananaRepublic that he's "[[ImpliedDeathThreat only President for life]]".
* ''Film/EscapeFromLA'' has a hyper-religious President of the US, who gets elected solely because one of his rants happens to come true quite by accident. Somehow, he gains enough support from the legislature and the people to amend the Constitution to get him declared this trope. He then proceeds to move the capital to his hometown, launch a network of {{Kill Sat}}s, and make anything he doesn't like illegal (such as red meat, smoking, drinking, premarital sex, etc.). Anybody who doesn't agree gets deported to Los Angeles (which is separate from mainland US) or gets sent to the electric chair.
* In ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart2'', [[spoiler:this is how Coin ultimately seeks to guarantee her power, making herself "interim" President, with a proper election being postponed indefinitely. When Katniss understands this, she makes sure [[OnlyServesForLife it's a short term]] by killing her]].
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[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'':
** There are no elections in Panem, so President Coriolanus Snow rules for life.
** Same case with President Alma Coin in ''Literature/{{Mockingjay}}'', who rules out elections by declaring herself "interim president." Katniss quickly figures out that she has no intention to cede power.
* In ''Literature/JulianComstock'', term limits for the President have been abolished and most of the checks on his power such as the Supreme Court and House of Representatives have been dismantled. Technically every President is elected to every term, but the majority of the population doesn't get to cast their own ballot, with their feudal landlord voting on their behalf, and every President runs essentially unopposed. The post is also ''de facto'' hereditary, Julian himself becomes at least the third Comstock to serve as President by the end of the book.
* In ''[[Literature/WellWorld Twilight at the Well of Souls]]'', Marquoz is re-made by the Well into a Hakazit, a species of large, powerful, reptilian warriors. The Hakazit have a truly unique form of government: The Supreme Lord is an absolute dictator who rules for as long as he lives - but the office is passed on only by KlingonPromotion, and ''every other Hakazit in the entire hex'' spends their spare time trying to find a way to assassinate him and become Supreme Lord in turn. The current Supreme Lord is fifty-seven years old and has held the position a little over three years. In his lifetime there have been sixty-six other Supreme Lords. The historical record for holding the position is [[LudicrousPrecision nine years, three months, sixteen days, five hours, forty-one minutes]].
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[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''Comicstrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin calls himself Supreme Dictator and PresidentForLife of G.R.O.S.S.
** Only until Hobbes declares himself King and Tyrant, at which point Calvin decides that's what ''he'' wants to be instead.
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[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/RicFlair became President of ''WCW'', and later declared himself President For Life.
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[[folder:Sketch Comedy]]
* In his "African President" sketch from his 2009 show ''J'ai fait l'con'', French-Cameroonian comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala spoofed the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7afrique Françafrique]] system by playing a fictional president for life of Cameroon who gave suitcases of cash to [[UsefulNotes/FrenchPoliticalSystem French political parties]] and [[UsefulNotes/ThePresidentsOfFrance presidents]] such as UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, Georges Pompidou, François Mitterrand...
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[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'', Balic is a republic, but the office of dictator is for life. And Dictator Andropinis is an immortal SorcerousOverlord, so he won't be leaving office any time soon.
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Cyberworld'': The [=US=] presidency has become one of these after the then-incumbent is "forced" to suspend the Constitution and declare a state of emergency. Officially the title is "Provisional President", and free elections will be held as soon as the Provisional Government gets everything stabilized, but every four years the Provisional Congress automatically announces that elections will not be held. The current Provisional President referred to the situation as the "Permanent Emergency" when he took power, so do the math.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* Possible in the ''VideoGame/{{Tropico}}'' series, but the risk is civil unrest once the people decide that they really want free elections again. That said, El Presidente can still ''easily'' [[PermanentElectedOfficial stuff the ballot box, so long as doing so]] doesn't verge into a RevealingCoverup.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' after "government forms" were introduced, the Dictatorial government form is this: A ruler chosen by "oligarchic election" whenever the previous ruler dies.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': Aradesh was the leader of Shady Sands, and, after its founding, the New California Republic, until his death, and was succeeded by his daughter Tandi, who stayed in office for ''52'' years before dying in office at age 103. However, there were no overt military or legal shenanigans behind this; the NCR never got around to instituting a term limit, but regular and reasonably fair elections were held, and Aradesh and Tandi were both competent and popular enough to consistently win.
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* In the wake of the Charlie Foxtrot that was the 2000 US Presidential Election, ''Website/TheOnion'' had UsefulNotes/BillClinton [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/clinton-declares-self-president-for-life,191/ declaring himself President For Life]] amidst civil war in Florida and beyond.
* In ''Literature/NewDealCoalitionRetained'', UsefulNotes/AugustoPinochet -- who had been ruling Chile with increasingly authoritarian measures during WorldWarIII -- uses the chaos and instability in South America following the war's conclusion as an excuse to dissolve Parliament, suspend elections, and declare himself President for life. [[spoiler:[[OnlyServesForLife Shortly thereafter]], he dies in a [[AmbiguousSituation suspicious accident]].]]
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': Abdul Fakkadi, [[TheGeneralissimo Supreme Military Commander]], President-for-Life, and King of Kings of [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya]].
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'', where Jay Sherman's son dated Fidel Castro's granddaughter, Castro introduced himself to a group of schoolchildren as this.
* In a less serious example, the Mayor in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' during a speech once proclaimed himself Mayor for Life, to the surprise of the citizens.
* In ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', Gallagher Elementary's [[StudentCouncilPresident Fourth Grade President]] Jimmy tacks "For Life" onto his title after [[FaceHeelTurn turning evil]].
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[[folder:Real Life]]
* Quite popular amongst real-life dictators and even some legally elected presidents, and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_for_life has its own article]] at Website/ThatOtherWiki. Some even lived up to the term. UsefulNotes/{{Africa}} and UsefulNotes/LatinAmerica harbor plenty of notorious examples.
** Famously, UsefulNotes/{{Uganda}}n dictator UsefulNotes/IdiAmin proclaimed himself this in many of his {{Narm}}tastic [[LargeHam rants]].
** François "Papa Doc" Duvalier of UsefulNotes/{{Haiti}}. Died in office.
** Saparmurat Niyazov of UsefulNotes/{{Turkmenistan}}. Died in office.
** Hastings Banda of UsefulNotes/{{Malawi}}. Stripped of title in 1993, defeated in an election in 1994.
** Kwame Nkrumah of UsefulNotes/{{Ghana}}. Deposed while away from office in 1966.
** UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito of UsefulNotes/{{Yugoslavia}}. Died in office in 1980.
** José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia of UsefulNotes/{{Paraguay}}. Died in office in 1840.
** Habib Bourguiba of UsefulNotes/{{Tunisia}}. Deposed in 1987, died under house arrest in 2000.
** Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of UsefulNotes/{{Bangladesh}}. [[OnlyServesForLife Assassinated in 1975, after only seven months in power]], along with most of his family.
** Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the UsefulNotes/CentralAfricanRepublic. Declared President for Life in 1972, then went all the way and was crowned Emperor of the Central African Empire in 1976. Deposed in 1979.
** Porfirio Díaz of UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}}. Deposed in 1911 during the [[UsefulNotes/TheMexicanRevolution Revolution]].
** Subverted by Julius Nyerere of UsefulNotes/{{Tanzania}} who, when pressed to accept the title by his sycophants, turned it down (even though he was genuinely popular), remarking that there was [[OnlyServesForLife only one way]] of getting rid of a President for Life.
** UsefulNotes/{{Samoa}}, a honest-to-god democracy, had not one but ''two'' ([[AuthorityInNameOnly Ceremonial]]) Presidents for life serving simultaneously: Tupua Tamasese Mea'ole ([[OnlyServesForLife who died in 1963, one year into his term]]) and Malietoa Tanumafili II (who held office from 1962 to 2007). Their case was a special exception for the usual rule of Parliament electing one single President for a five-year term, which makes the country unambiguously a republic. However, Tanumafili II's long term, combined with the fact that only Chiefs can hold elected office in Samoa and the President being called an [[InsistentTerminology O le Ao]] [[GratuitousForeignLanguage o le Malo]] (that's Samoan for Chief of the Government), led to Samoa being frequently referred to as a Constitutional Monarchy instead of the Parliamentary Republic it actually is.
** Averted with [[UsefulNotes/TheRulersOfNorthKorea Kim Il-sung]] of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea, who was declared Eternal President of the Republic ''after'' he'd died. However, he was NOT President For Life while he was alive; his term was regularly renewed via show elections. Creator/ChristopherHitchens commented that this made North Korea the world's only [[TheNecrocracy necrocracy]].
** Downplayed by UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin. While there ''are'' actual elections in Russia and not mere rubber stamp shows like those organized by the Kims or Saddam Hussein, they are still subject to considerable election interference from the Kremlin.[[note]]Russia finds itself in a similar position to Turkey under the AKP or Mexico under the PRI. While rival parties are allowed under the constitution (it is not a 1-party state like China or Iran), Russian politics is dominated by the United Russia Party due to a combination of lack of credible alternatives and corruption by the biggest party to stay in power.[[/note]] The constitution of the Russian Federation originally specified that a person could only serve two ''consecutive'' 4-year terms as President, so they had to do a switcheroo with Dimitry Medvedev as a PuppetKing from 2008-2012. Afterwards, the constitution was amended to remove the term limits and increase the President's term to 6 years instead of 4. In 2000, he barely skated through with 53% of the votes. By 2024, it had risen to 87%.
** UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte made himself First Consul for life on the way to becoming TheEmperor.
** The UrExample is probably that of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar in AncientRome, granted the title of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictator_perpetuo dictator perpetuo]]'' or dictator in perpetuity, abandoning the usual time restrictions on Roman dictatorships historically observed. This of course being [[OnlyServesForLife shortly before his infamous assassination]], and possibly being subverted by the lack of implication Caesar would never resign the post. Whether Caesar actually had any intention of ever stepping down is uncertain, but in theory "dictator in perpetuity" only meant he wasn't ''required'' to step down after a specified term (traditionally the Roman dictatorship was limited to 6 months, and dictators often ''did'' [[{{Cincinnatus}} voluntarily step down early]] if it took less than 6 months to solve whichever emergency led to their appointment). The only previous dictator to not be time-limited was Sulla, who did indeed abuse his power to rule as a tyrant but also peacefully stepped down after less than 2 years.
*** His great-nephew and heir UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} was offered this title but refused it, knowing how dangerous this was. He preferred the titles ''imperator'', originally a military honorific roughly meaning "commander" but which evolved into a royal title (translating, of course, to "emperor") over time, and ''princeps'' ([[JustTheFirstCitizen first citizen]]), which likewise evolved centuries later into the royal title "prince". For the first 311 years of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire, the emperors followed Augustus' example by insisting that they were neither royal nor dictators and that Rome was still a republic in which power ultimately flowed from the citizens and the Senate. Not until Diocletian in 284 AD was the pretense discarded.
** Francisco Macías Nguema of UsefulNotes/EquatorialGuinea declared himself President for Life in 1972, ruling until his arrest and execution seven years later.
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