2004 in politics
Encyclopedia
Years in politics: 2002
2002 in politics
Years in politics: 2000-2001-2002-2003-2004 - list of years in politics-January:*January 1- Eduardo Duhalde is appointed President of Argentina...

-2003
2003 in politics
Years in politics: 2001-2002-2003-2004-2005 - list of years in politics-January 1:*January 1: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva takes office as president of Brazil...

-2004-2005
2005 in politics
-January:* January 1**The Freedom of Information Act 2000 comes into force in the United Kingdom.**In Germany, stage IV of the Hartz concept brought together unemployment benefits and social security benefits, despite protests....

-2006
2006 in politics
-January:* January 3 - U.S. lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleads guilty to conspiracy, tax evasion, and mail fraud. His investigation starts a whirlwind of investigations and reforms into U.S...

 - list of years in politics

January

  • January 1- Adnan Pachachi
    Adnan Pachachi
    Adnan al-Pachachi or Adnan Muzahim Amin al-Pachachi is a veteran Iraqi politician and diplomat. Pachachi was Iraq's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1959 to 1965 and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq from 1965 to 1967; he again served as Permanent Representative to the UN...

     becomes president of the Iraq Interim Governing Council and will serve for the duration of the month.
  • January 1- Joseph Deiss
    Joseph Deiss
    Joseph Deiss is an economist, Swiss politician and a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party . From 1999 to 2006, he was a member of the Swiss Federal Council, heading first the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and then the Federal Department of Economic Affairs...

     takes office as President of the Confederation in Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    , Samuel Schmid
    Samuel Schmid
    Samuel Schmid is a Swiss politician who was a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2000 to 2008. He was the head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports .He was elected to the Federal Council on 6 December 2000...

     as vice-president.
  • January 4- Texas
    Texas
    Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

     Congressman Ralph Hall
    Ralph Hall
    Ralph Moody Hall is a United States Representative from . First elected in 1980, Hall is the chairman of the Science Committee and a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee...

     switches to the Republicans. Hall had been a Democrat.
  • January 4- Mikhail Saakashvili is elected as President of Georgia
    Georgia (country)
    Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

    .
  • January 6- 2000 Democratic Presidential Candidate Bill Bradley
    Bill Bradley
    William Warren "Bill" Bradley is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St....

     endorses fellow Democrat Howard Dean
    Howard Dean
    Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...

     for President.
  • January 8- Gavin Newsom
    Gavin Newsom
    Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician who is the 49th and current Lieutenant Governor of California. Previously, he was the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, and was elected in 2003 to succeed Willie Brown, becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years. Newsom was re-elected in 2007...

     is sworn in as Mayor of San Francisco.
  • January 8- Roosevelt Skerrit
    Roosevelt Skerrit
    Roosevelt Skerrit is a Dominican politician who has been Prime Minister of Dominica since 2004; he has also been the Member of Parliament for the Vieille Case constituency since 2000...

     is sworn in as Prime Minister
    Prime minister
    A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

     of Dominica
    Dominica
    Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

     following the death of Pierre Charles
    Pierre Charles
    Pierre Charles was Prime Minister of Dominica from 2000 to 2004 as well as Member of Parliament for Grand Bay, Dominica from 1985 until his death. He was born in Grand Bay in Saint Patrick parish. He began his high school education at the Dominica Grammar School and completed it at the St...

     on January 6.
  • January 12- Kathleen Babineaux Blanco is sworn in as Governor of Louisiana
    Louisiana
    Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

    .
  • January 13- Haley Barbour
    Haley Barbour
    Haley Reeves Barbour is an American Republican politician currently serving as the 63rd Governor of Mississippi. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Barbour won re-election as Governor in 2007...

     is sworn in as Governor of Mississippi
    Mississippi
    Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

    .
  • January 13- Howard Dean wins a non-binding primary in Washington, DC with 43% of the vote. Al Sharpton
    Al Sharpton
    Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...

     comes in second with 34% of the vote.
  • January 13- Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill contributes to a book that claims that George W. Bush
    George W. Bush
    George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

     wanted to attack Iraq
    Iraq
    Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

     since January 2001 and not after the September 11th terrorist attacks as had been believed.
  • January 13- The Turkish Cypriot leader approves a new cabinet headed by Mehmet Ali Talat
    Mehmet Ali Talat
    Mehmet Ali Talat is the former President of the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. He was the leader of the left wing Republican Turkish Party . He became prime minister in 2004, and subsequently won the Presidential election held on 17 April 2005...

    .
  • January 14- Óscar Berger Perdomo is inaugurated as President of Guatemala
    Guatemala
    Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

    . Eduardo Stein Barillas becomes vice president and Jorge Briz Abularach
    Jorge Briz Abularach
    Jorge Briz Abularach is a Guatemalan politician who has been the foreign minister of Guatemala and president of the Chamber of Commerce of Guatemala.- Biography :...

     becomes foreign minister.
  • January 14- Madan Lal Khurana
    Madan Lal Khurana
    Madan Lal Khurana is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Delhi. He has also served as the Governor of Rajasthan.-Early life:...

     is sworn in as governor of Rajasthan
    Rajasthan
    Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

    .
  • January 14- Nikolay Shaklein
    Nikolay Shaklein
    Nikolay Ivanovich Shaklein is a Russian politician, former governor of Kirov Oblast in Russia. He was born December 20, 1943 in Korshunikha, Kirov Oblast, Russia. He rose the ranks of the state prosecution service, becoming the deputy general prosecutor of the Russian Federation by 1999. He has...

     is sworn in as governor of Kirov
    Kirov, Kirov Oblast
    Kirov , formerly known as Vyatka and Khlynov, is a city in northeastern European Russia, on the Vyatka River, and the administrative center of Kirov Oblast. Population: -History:...

    .
  • January 15- Carol Moseley Braun
    Carol Moseley Braun
    Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun is an American feminist politician and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999. She was the first and to date only African-American woman elected to the United States Senate, the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator in an...

     drops out of the 2004 United States Presidential race and endorses Howard Dean
    Howard Dean
    Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...

    .
  • January 16- Ban Ki Moon is named foreign minister of South Korea
    South Korea
    The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

    .
  • January 19- The Iowa
    Iowa
    Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

     Caucuses are held. John Kerry
    John Kerry
    John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

     wins with 38%. John Edwards
    John Edwards
    Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...

     comes second with 32%. Howard Dean
    Howard Dean
    Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...

     comes in third with 18%. Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt
    Dick Gephardt
    Richard Andrew "Dick" Gephardt is a lobbyist and former prominent American politician of the Democratic Party. Gephardt served as a U.S. Representative from Missouri from January 3, 1977, until January 3, 2005, serving as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995, and as Minority Leader from 1995 to...

     comes in fourth with 11%.
  • January 20- Richard Gephardt quits the 2004 Presidential race after a poor showing in the Iowa Caucuses.
  • January 20- Bill Janklow
    Bill Janklow
    William John "Bill" Janklow served as the 25th Attorney General of South Dakota, before being elected as South Dakota's 27th and 30th Governor, as well as to the United States House of Representatives where he served for a little more than a year. A Republican, Janklow's career has continued as a...

    's resignation from Congress takes effect. Janklow had been convicted of a felony in December 2003.
  • January 25- Mikhail Saakashvili is sworn in as President of Georgia
    Georgia (country)
    Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

    .
  • January 27- John Kerry wins the New Hampshire Primary with 38% of the vote. Howard Dean gets 26% of the vote.
  • January 27 - Don Brash
    Don Brash
    Donald "Don" Thomas Brash , a New Zealand politician, was Leader of the Opposition, parliamentary leader of the National Party from 28 October 2003 to 27 November 2006 and the leader of the ACT Party for 28th April 2011 - 26 November 2011...

     Speech Orewa Rotary Club on Nationhood against Māori racial separatism
    Separatism
    Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...

     in New Zealand
    New Zealand
    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

  • January 27 - A House of Commons
    British House of Commons
    The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

     vote on University tuition top-up fees is narrowly won by the British Government. It is, however, the worst voting result for Tony Blair
    Tony Blair
    Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

     since he came to power in 1997.

February

  • February 1- Jörg Schild becomes president of the government of Basel-Stadt.
  • February 3- John Edwards wins a primary in South Carolina
    South Carolina
    South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

     with 46% of the vote. Wesley Clark wins the Oklahoma
    Oklahoma
    Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

     primary with 30% of the vote. John Kerry wins primaries and caucuses in Arizona
    Arizona
    Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

     with 43% of the vote, Delaware
    Delaware
    Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

     with 50% of the vote, Missouri
    Missouri
    Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

     with 51% of the vote, New Mexico
    New Mexico
    New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

     with 42% of the vote, and North Dakota
    North Dakota
    North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

     with 50% of the vote.
  • February 3- Joe Lieberman quits the Presidential race after poor results in primaries and caucuses in South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, North Dakota, and New Mexico.
  • February 3- Jóannes Eidesgaard
    Jóannes Eidesgaard
    Jóannes Dan Eidesgaard is the Finance Minister of the Faroe Islands. He has held the position since 26 September 2008. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Faeroe Islands from 3 February 2004, shortly after the general election of 20 January 2004, until 26 September 2008, when a new...

     becomes prime minister of the Faroe Islands
    Faroe Islands
    The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

    .
  • February 4- Andrei Stratan
    Andrei Stratan
    Andrei Stratan is a Moldovan politician.He was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration in Vasile Tarlev Cabinet and Zinaida Greceanîi Cabinet.-References:...

     is appointed foreign minister of Moldova
    Moldova
    Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

    .
  • February 4- Dragan Marsicanin
    Dragan Maršicanin
    Dragan Maršićanin is a Serbian politician. He was the ambassador of Serbia to Switzerland, serving from 2004 to 2009. He was also Serbian Minister of Economy, but his position was put on hold when he decided to run for president in 2004...

     becomes acting president of Serbia
    Serbia
    Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

    .
  • February 6- Richard Gephardt endorses John Kerry for President.
  • February 7- John Kerry wins a primary in Michigan
    Michigan
    Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

     with 52% of the vote. Kerry also wins the Washington primary with 49% of the vote.
  • February 7 - Peter Beattie
    Peter Beattie
    Peter Douglas Beattie , Australian politician, was the 36th Premier of the Australian state of Queensland for nine years and leader of the Australian Labor Party in that state for eleven and a half years...

     (of the Australian Labor Party
    Australian Labor Party
    The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

    ) wins a 3rd term as Premier of Queensland
    Queensland
    Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

    , again winning over two-thirds of the seats.
  • February 8- John Kerry wins the Maine
    Maine
    Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

     Caucuses with 45% of the vote.
  • February 10- John Kerry wins primaries in Tennessee
    Tennessee
    Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

     and Virginia
    Virginia
    The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

     with 41% and 52% of the vote, respectfully.
  • February 11- Wesley Clark
    Wesley Clark
    Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the...

     quits the Presidential race after poor results in the Virginia and Tennessee primaries.
  • February 13- Wesley Clark endorses John Kerry.
  • February 13- Jesús Pérez is sworn in as foreign minister of Venezuela
    Venezuela
    Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

    .
  • February 13- Tassos Giannitsis is sworn in as caretaker foreign minister of Greece
    Greece
    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

    .
  • February 14- John Kerry wins a caucus in Washington, DC with 47% of the vote. Kerry wins the Nevada
    Nevada
    Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

     caucus with 63% of state party delegates.
  • February 17- Democrat Ben Chandler
    Ben Chandler
    Albert Benjamin "Ben" Chandler III is the U.S. Representative for , serving since a special election in 2004. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...

     defeats Republican Alice Forgy Kerr in a Congressional special election in Kentucky with 55% of the vote compared to Forgy Kerr's 43%.
  • February 17- John Kerry wins 40% of the vote in the Wisconsin
    Wisconsin
    Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

     primary.
  • February 17- Luisa Diogo
    Luisa Diogo
    Luísa Dias Diogo was Prime Minister of Mozambique from February 2004 to January 2010. She replaced Pascoal Mocumbi, who had been Prime Minister for the previous nine years. Before becoming Prime Minister, she was Minister of Planning and Finance, and she continued to hold that post until February...

     is named prime minister of Mozambique
    Mozambique
    Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

    .
  • February 18- Howard Dean quits the Presidential race after a poor showing in Wisconsin.
  • February 18- Jacques Simonet
    Jacques Simonet
    Jacques Simonet was a Belgian politician and a former Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region.He is the son of Henri Simonet, former Socialist Party minister and for many years mayor of Anderlecht. His mother Marie-Louise Angenet taught at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.He was born in...

     is sworn in as minister-president of Brussels-Capital.
  • February 21- Ralph Nader
    Ralph Nader
    Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

     enters the Presidential race as an Independent.
  • February 23- Paul Lennon
    Paul Lennon
    Paul Anthony Lennon is an Australian Labor Party politician. He was Premier of Tasmania from 21 March 2004 until his resignation on 26 May 2008. He was member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for the seat of Franklin from 1990 until officially resigning on 27 May 2008...

     becomes acting premier of Tasmania
    Tasmania
    Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

    .
  • February 23- Mamady Condé
    Mamady Condé
    Mamady Condé is a Guinean politician and diplomat. Condé was first appointed to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in March 2004. Being replaced by Fatoumata Kaba on March 8, 2005, Condé was appointed once again as Foreign Minister in 2006, retaining the post until March 2007.-References:...

     is named foreign minister of Guinea
    Guinea
    Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

    .
  • February 23- Josep Bargalló Valls takes office as chief councillor of Catalonia
    Catalonia
    Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

    .
  • February 24- Viktor Khristenko
    Viktor Khristenko
    Viktor Borisovich Khristenko is the current Russian Minister of Industry and former First Deputy Prime Minister.-Personal life:...

     is named acting prime minister of Russia
    Russia
    Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

    .
  • February 26- Ljupco Jordanovski
    Ljupco Jordanovski
    Ljupčo Jordanovski was a Macedonian seismologist and politician.-Education:Jordanovski received his BEng in Electrical Engineering from the University of Zagreb. He received his PhD from the University of Southern California in 1985.-Early career:...

     becomes acting president of Republic of Macedonia
    Republic of Macedonia
    Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

    .
  • February 28- Sulejman Tihić
    Sulejman Tihic
    Sulejman Tihić is a Bosniak politician, a leading member of Party of Democratic Action .Tihić was born in the town of Bosanski Šamac in northern Bosnia. He obtained a degree in Law from the University of Sarajevo...

     becomes chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

    .
  • February 29- Boniface Alexandre
    Boniface Alexandre
    Boniface Alexandre is a politician in Haïti. He served as acting president of Haïti from 2004 to 2006. The 2004 Haitian coup d'état removed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from the Americas on February 29, 2004...

     is sworn in as provisional president of Haiti
    Haiti
    Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

    .

March

  • March 2 - "Super Tuesday
    Super Tuesday
    In the United States, Super Tuesday, in general, refers to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated...

    " U.S. presidential primaries or caucuses take place in California
    California
    California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

    , Connecticut
    Connecticut
    Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

    , Georgia
    Georgia (U.S. state)
    Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

    , Maryland
    Maryland
    Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

    , Massachusetts
    Massachusetts
    The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

    , Minnesota
    Minnesota
    Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

    , New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

    , Ohio
    Ohio
    Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

    , Rhode Island
    Rhode Island
    The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

     and Vermont
    Vermont
    Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

    . John Kerry wins in 9 states, and a dejected John Edwards quits the race.
  • March 3- New Government of Serbia
    Government of Serbia
    Officially the Government of the Republic of Serbia is the executive branch of government in Serbia.-Current government:The current government was elected on 7 July 2008 by the majority vote in the National Assembly of Serbia and restructured on 14 March 2011...

     was formed with support of Milošević
    Slobodan Milošević
    Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...

    's SPS
    Socialist Party of Serbia
    The Socialist Party of Serbia is officially a democratic socialist political party in Serbia. It is also widely recognized as a de facto Serbian nationalist party, though the party itself does not officially acknowledge this...

     party
  • March 4 - The national parliament
    Parliament of Malaysia
    The Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The King as the Head of State is the third component of Parliament....

     and all state assemblies of Malaysia, except Sarawak's
    Sarawak
    Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...

     were dissolved by the Prime Minister
    Prime Minister of Malaysia
    The Prime Minister of Malaysia is the indirectly elected head of government of Malaysia. He is officially appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the head of state, who in HM's judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House of Representatives , the...

    , paving the way for the general election
    Malaysian general election, 2004
    General elections were held in Malaysia on March 21, 2004. The incumbent National Front government of Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was re-elected with an increased majority.-Election results:...

    .
  • March 4- Predrag Marković
    Predrag Markovic
    Predrag Marković is a Serbian politician, author, and historian.-Political career:...

     becomes acting President of Serbia
    President of Serbia
    The President of Serbia is the head of state of Serbia. Presently serving as the head of state is Boris Tadić. He was elected with a narrow majority of 50.31% in the 2008 Serbian presidential elections.-Authority, legal and constitutional rights:...

    .
  • March 5- Mikhail Fradkov
    Mikhail Fradkov
    Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov is a Russian politician and statesman who was the Prime Minister of Russia from March 2004 to September 2007. Fradkov has been the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service since 2007.-Early life:...

     is confirmed as Prime Minister of Russia
    Russia
    Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

    .
  • March 7- Kostas Karamanlis is given the mandate to form a new government in Greece
    Greece
    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

    .
  • March 9- Sergey Lavrov
    Sergey Lavrov
    Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov is the Foreign Minister of Russia. Prior to that, Lavrov was a Soviet diplomat and Russia's ambassador to the United Nations from 1994 to 2004. Lavrov speaks Russian, English, French and Sinhala....

     is appointed Foreign Minister of Russia
    Russia
    Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

    .
  • March 9- Petros Molyviatis
    Petros Molyviatis
    Petros G. Molyviatis is a Greek politician, and from 2004 to 2006 was the Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs.Born in Chios, he studied Law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and entered the Greek Foreign Ministry after graduation...

     becomes Foreign Minister of Greece
    Greece
    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

    .
  • March 9- The Parliament of Latvia
    Latvia
    Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

     approves a new government headed by Indulis Emsis
    Indulis Emsis
    Indulis Emsis is a Latvian biologist and politician. He was Prime Minister of Latvia for ten months in 2004, the first Green politician to lead a country in the history of the world. He was Speaker of the Saeima, the Latvian parliament from 2006 to 2007...

    , Rihards Piks
    Rihards Piks
    Rihards Pīks is a Latvian politician and Member of the European Parliament for the People's Party; part of the European People's Party.-References:...

     becomes foreign minister.
  • March 11- Salomé Zurabishvili is appointed as foreign minister of the Republic of Georgia
    Georgia (country)
    Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

    .
  • March 12- Oleg Chirkunov
    Oleg Chirkunov
    Oleg Anatolyevich Chirkunov b. November 15, 1958 in Kirovsk, Murmansk Oblast, Russia is the governor of Perm Krai.-Early life:He graduated from Perm State Technical University in 1981 and from the Law Department of Perm State University in 1988. He received his PhD in economics in...

     becomes new acting governor of Perm
    Perm
    Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov ....

    .
  • March 12- Gérard Latortue
    Gérard Latortue
    Gérard Latortue was the Prime Minister of Haïti from March 12, 2004 to June 9, 2006. He was an official in the United Nations for many years, and briefly served as foreign minister of Haïti during the short-lived 1988 administration of Leslie Manigat.In February 2004, the country suffered a coup...

     is sworn in as Prime Minister of Haiti
    Haiti
    Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

    .
  • March 13 - Nomination day for the Malaysian general election
    Malaysian general election, 2004
    General elections were held in Malaysia on March 21, 2004. The incumbent National Front government of Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was re-elected with an increased majority.-Election results:...

    . Barisan Nasional
    Barisan Nasional
    Barisan Nasional is a major political coalition in Malaysia, formed in 1973 as the successor to the Alliance . Along with its predecessor, it has been Malaysia's federal ruling political force since independence...

     wins 15 parliamentary seats and 7 state assembly seats uncontested. The Islamic Party of Malaysia settles for one seat in the state of Johor
    Johor
    Johor is a Malaysian state, located in the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia. It is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The state capital city and royal city of Johor is Johor Bahru, formerly known as Tanjung Puteri...

    .
  • March 16 - Sergey Abaramov is appointed as Prime Minister of Chechnya
    Chechnya
    The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...

    .
  • March 21 - The National Front scores a landslide victory in the Malaysian general election
    Malaysian general election, 2004
    General elections were held in Malaysia on March 21, 2004. The incumbent National Front government of Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was re-elected with an increased majority.-Election results:...

    .
  • March 23 - Lawrence Gonzi
    Lawrence Gonzi
    Lawrence Gonzi is a Maltese politician who has been Prime Minister of Malta since 2004. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta from 1988 to 1996, Minister of Social Policy from 1998 to 1999, and Deputy Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004...

     is sworn in as Prime Minister of Malta
    Malta
    Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

    . John Dalli
    John Dalli
    John Dalli is the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy and a former Maltese politician who served as Cabinet Minister in various Maltese governments between 1987 and 2010.-Maltese politics:...

     becomes foreign minister.
  • March 24 - Baldwin Spencer
    Baldwin Spencer
    Winston Baldwin Spencer is the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. He has been Prime Minister since March 24, 2004, when his party, the United Progressive Party , which he had led as the opposition party for several years, won a parliamentary election...

     is sworn in as Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
    Antigua and Barbuda
    Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands...

    . Harold Lovell
    Harold Lovell
    Harold Earl Edmund Lovell is the minister of tourism and civil aviation of Antigua and Barbuda. He was the minister of foreign affairs and trade from March 2004 to January 2005, when Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer took over those posts in a cabinet reshuffle, giving Lovell his current posts.Harold...

     becomes Foreign Minister.
  • March 25 - Datuk Idris Jusoh
    Idris Jusoh
    Haji Idris bin Jusoh was the former Menteri Besar of the state of Terengganu, Malaysia. He is a member of the United Malays National Organisation which is part of the nation ruling coalition Barisan Nasional.- Crisis in Terengganu :...

     is sworn in as chief minister of Terengganu
    Terengganu
    Terengganu is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Iman...

    .
  • March 31 - Michel Barnier
    Michel Barnier
    Michel Barnier is a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement and Vice President of the European People's Party . He is the current European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services...

     becomes foreign minister of France
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

    .

April

  • April 1 - Paolo Bollini
    Paolo Bollini
    Paolo Bollini is a politician in San Marino. He is a member of the San Marinese Socialist Party.He has been a captain-regent twice, from October 1998 until April 1999 and from April 2004 until October 2004.-References:...

     and Marino Riccardi
    Marino Riccardi
    Marino Riccardi is a politician from the nation of San Marino. He is a member of the Party of Democrats. He has been a captain-regent twice, from October 1991 to April 1992 and from April 2004 until October 2004.-References:...

     take office as Captains Regent of San Marino
    San Marino
    San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino , is a state situated on the Italian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. It is an enclave surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino...

    .
  • April 1- Massoud Barzani
    Massoud Barzani
    Massoud Barzani is the current President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Barzani was born in Mahabad, Iran, during the rule of the Republic of Mahabad...

     becomes President of the governing council of Iraq
    Iraq
    Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

    .
  • April 1- Roland Brogli becomes Landammann of Aargau
    Aargau
    Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...

    .
  • April 4- Camille de Rocca-Serra is elected as president of the Corsica
    Corsica
    Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

    n Assembly.
  • April 5- Mahinda Rajapakse is appointed as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
    Sri Lanka
    Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

    .
  • April 6- Artūras Paulauskas
    Arturas Paulauskas
    Artūras Paulauskas is a Lithuanian politician. He was the Speaker of Seimas, the parliament of Lithuania, from 2000 to 2006, and he served as Acting President of Lithuania from 6 April 2004 to 12 July 2004.-Early career:...

     becomes acting President of Lithuania
    Lithuania
    Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

    .
  • April 6- Gabriele Gendotti becomes president of the Council of State of Ticino
    Ticino
    Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...

    .
  • April 7- José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
    José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
    José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...

     is asked to form the new government of Spain
    Spain
    Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

    .
  • April 10- Chen Tang-shan is named foreign minister of the Republic of China
    Republic of China
    The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

    .
  • April 12- Georgy Shpak
    Georgy Shpak
    Georgy Ivanovich Shpak was the governor of Ryazan Oblast, Russia from 2004-2008.He was the commander of the Airborne Troops from 1996 to 2003. He was elected for the Rodina bloc.-References:...

     takes office as governor of Ryazan
    Ryazan
    Ryazan is a city and the administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Oka River southeast of Moscow. Population: The strategic bomber base Dyagilevo is just west of the city, and the air base of Alexandrovo is to the southeast as is the Ryazan Turlatovo Airport...

    .
  • April 14- Nikolay Kiselyov is sworn in as governor of Arkhangelsk
    Arkhangelsk
    Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...

    . Mikhail Yevdokimov
    Mikhail Yevdokimov
    Mikhail Sergeyevich Yevdokimov was a Russian entertainer and politician.Yevdokimov was born in Stalinsk , western Siberia. After a long career as a comedian, actor and singer, he had entered politics by 2003. In April 2004, he became governor of the Altai Krai region of Russia after defeating...

     is sworn in as governor of Altai Krai
    Altai Krai
    Altai Krai is a federal subject of Russia . It borders with, clockwise from the south, Kazakhstan, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts, and the Altai Republic. The krai's administrative center is the city of Barnaul...

    .
  • April 14- James Michel
    James Michel
    Colonel James Alix Michel is a Seychellois politician who has been President of Seychelles since April 16, 2004. He previously served as Vice-President under his predecessor, France-Albert René, from 1996 to 2004...

     is sworn in as President of Seychelles
    Seychelles
    Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....

    .
  • April 14- S'bu Ndebele
    S'bu Ndebele
    Sibusiso Joel "S'bu" Ndebele , is the current Minister of Transport in the Cabinet of South Africa...

     is sworn in as Premier of KwaZulu-Natal
    KwaZulu-Natal
    KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....

    .
  • April 16- Prague Process
    Prague Process (Armenian–Azerbaijani negotiations)
    The Prague Process is a series of negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministries. It began on April 16, 2004 when the newly appointed Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met his Armenian counterpart Vartan Oskanian in Czech capital Prague. The...

     between Azerbaijan
    Azerbaijan
    Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

    i and Armenia
    Armenia
    Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

    n foreign ministries is started.
  • April 17- José María Barreda Fontes assumes the Presidency of the Junta of Castilla-La Mancha.
  • April 18- Miguel Ángel Moratinos
    Miguel Ángel Moratinos
    Miguel Ángel Moratinos Cuyaubé is a Spanish diplomat and politician, a member of the Socialist Workers' Party and member of Congress where he represents Córdoba....

     becomes foreign minister of Spain
    Spain
    Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

    .
  • April 21- Macky Sall
    Macky Sall
    Macky Sall is a Senegalese politician. He was the Prime Minister of Senegal from April 2004 to June 2007 and was President of the National Assembly of Senegal from June 2007 to November 2008. He was the Mayor of Fatick from 2002 to 2008 and has held that post again since April 2009.Sall was a...

     is appointed as Prime Minister of Senegal
    Senegal
    Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

    .
  • April 22- Catherine Mabuza becomes acting premier of Limpopo.
  • April 23- Leonard Ramatlakane
    Leonard Ramatlakane
    Leonard Ramatlakane is the former Minister of Community Safety in the Western Cape province of South Africa. He also served as the acting Premier briefly after Marthinus Van Schalkwyk resigned in 2004....

     is sworn in as acting premier of Western Cape
    Western Cape
    The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...

    .
  • April 23- Sergey Gaplikov becomes acting Prime Minister of Chuvashia.
  • April 24 - Referendums on the Annan Plan for Cyprus
    Annan Plan for Cyprus
    The Annan Plan was a United Nations proposal to resolve the Cyprus dispute, reuniting the breakaway Northern Cyprus with the Republic of Cyprus. The proposal was to restructure Cyprus as the "United Cyprus Republic", which would be a federation of two states. It was revised a number of times before...

    , which proposes to re-unite the island of Cyprus
    Cyprus
    Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

    , take place in both the Republic of Cyprus controlled and Turkish
    Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
    Northern Cyprus or North Cyprus , officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus , is a self-declared state that comprises the northeastern part of the island of Cyprus...

     controlled parts. Although the Turkish Cypriots
    Turkish Cypriots
    Turkish Cypriots are the ethnic Turks and members of the Turkish-speaking ethnolinguistic community of the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The term is used to refer explicitly to the indigenous Turkish Cypriots, whose Ottoman Turkish forbears colonised the island in 1571...

     vote in favour, the Greek Cypriots
    Greek Cypriots
    Greek Cypriots are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community at 77% of the population. Greek Cypriots are mostly members of the Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity...

     reject the proposal.
  • April 26- Sello Moloto
    Sello Moloto
    Sello Moloto is the former premier of Limpopo. He was succeeded by Cassel Mathale on March 3, 2009 when he switched from the African National Congress to the Congress of the People and was designated as COPE's candidate for premier of Limpopo; he did not regain his seat in the later general election...

     is sworn in as premier of Limpopo. Ebrahim Rasool
    Ebrahim Rasool
    Ebrahim Rasool was the Premier of the Western Cape province in South Africa. He is a member of the African National Congress.Anti-Apartheid Struggle Activist:...

     is elected premier of Western Cape
    Western Cape
    The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...

    .
  • April 28- Gabi Burgstaller
    Gabi Burgstaller
    Gabi Burgstaller is an Austrian politician, and the current governor of the State of Salzburg.She was born in Penetzdorf/Niederthalheim near Schwanenstadt in Upper Austria. After matriculation at a high school in Gmunden and one year abroad in England, she studied Law at the University of Salzburg...

     is sworn in as Landeshauptfrau of Salzburg
    Salzburg
    -Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

    .
  • April 29- Ousmane Issoufi Maïga
    Ousmane Issoufi Maïga
    Ousmane Issoufi Maïga was the Prime Minister of Mali from 2004 to 2007. Issoufi had previously held several ministerial posts in previous governments.Issoufi was born near Gao, in the north of Mali...

     is appointed Prime Minister of Mali
    Mali
    Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

    .

May

  • May 1- Laurie Morgan
    Laurie Morgan
    Laurie Morgan From , is a Deputy of the States of Guernsey. He was Guernsey's first Chief Minister and was elected to the post in May 2004. His term of office was due to expire in 2008, when the next General Election is due...

     is elected chief minister of Guernsey
    Guernsey
    Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...

    .
  • May 1- Ezzedine Salim
    Ezzedine Salim
    Ezzedine Salim, , also known as Abdelzahra Othman Mohammed , was an Iraqi politician.-Biography:...

     becomes president of the governing council of Iraq
    Iraq
    Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

    .
  • May 1- Jean-René Fournier takes office as president of the Council of State of Valais
    Valais
    The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...

    . Ruedi Jeker takes office as president of the government of Zürich
    Canton of Zürich
    The Canton of Zurich has a population of . The canton is located in the northeast of Switzerland and the city of Zurich is its capital. The official language is German, but people speak the local Swiss German dialect called Züritüütsch...

    .
  • May 2- Moctar Ouane
    Moctar Ouane
    Moctar Ouane is a Malian diplomat and politician. He served in the government of Mali as Minister of Foreign Affairs from May 2004 to April 2011.-Diplomatic career:...

     becomes foreign minister of Mali
    Mali
    Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

    .
  • May 2- Marek Belka
    Marek Belka
    Marek Marian Belka is a Polish professor of Economics, a former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland, former Director of the International Monetary Fund's European Department and current Head of National Bank of Poland.- Biography :...

     is sworn in as prime minister of Poland
    Poland
    Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

    .
  • May 7- Fredis Refunjol
    Fredis Refunjol
    Fredis Jose Refunjol is an Aruban politician serving as the current Governor of Aruba. Originally a teacher, he has served as a government official for the past twenty years, starting as a Member of the Estates of Aruba....

     is sworn in as governor of Aruba
    Aruba
    Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...

    .
  • May 9- Carlos Gomes Júnior
    Carlos Gomes Júnior
    Carlos Domingos Gomes Júnior is the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau. He was previously Prime Minister from 10 May 2004 to 2 November 2005, and he was again appointed to that post on 25 December 2008...

     is named Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau
    Guinea-Bissau
    The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....

    .
  • May 10- Deborah Barnes Jones is sworn in as governor of Montserrat
    Montserrat
    Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...

    .
  • May 17- Ghazi al-Yawer becomes president of the governing council of Iraq
    Iraq
    Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

    .
  • May 19- Manmohan Singh
    Manmohan Singh
    Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...

     is invited to form the new government of India
    India
    India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

    .
  • May 20- Bingu wa Mutharika
    Bingu wa Mutharika
    Bingu wa Mutharika is a Malawi economist who is President of Malawi. He took office on 24 May 2004 after winning a disputed presidential election...

     wins the presidential election in Malawi
    Malawi
    The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...

    .
  • May 23- K. Natwar Singh
    K. Natwar Singh
    Kunwar Natwar Singh, popularly known as K. Natwar Singh is an Indian politician and former cabinet minister. On December 7, 2005, he was removed from his post as Minister in charge of External Affairs under a cloud of scandal and became a minister without portfolio. Named by the U.N...

     becomes foreign minister of India
    India
    India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

    .
  • May 28- Dharam Singh
    Dharam Singh
    Narayan Dharam Singh , , was the 17th Chief Minister of Karnataka state in India and a former Lok Sabha member. He was sworn into office on May 28, 2004, and left office on February 3, 2006. He represents Congress in the state. The coalition government formed by the Congress with the help of...

     is installed as chief minister of Karnataka
    Karnataka
    Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

    .
  • May 28- Alan Huckle
    Alan Huckle
    Alan Edden Huckle is a British colonial administrator. He was the commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory and the British Antarctic Territory from 2001 until 2004, when he left to become the governor of Anguilla in the Caribbean...

     is sworn in as governor of Anguilla
    Anguilla
    Anguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...

    .

June

  • June 1 - Antonio Saca
    Antonio Saca
    Elías Antonio Saca González is a Salvadoran politician and was the President of El Salvador. He was elected President in 2004 to serve a five-year term that ended in 2009....

     becomes President of El Salvador
    El Salvador
    El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

    ; Francisco Laínez becomes foreign minister.
  • June 1- Barbara Egger-Jenzer becomes President of the Government of Bern. Sylvie Perrinjaquet becomes president of the Council of State of Neuchâtel, Josef Keller Landammann of Sankt Gallen
    Canton of St. Gallen
    The Canton of St. Gallen is a canton of Switzerland. St. Gallen is located in the north east of Switzerland. It covers an area of 2,026 km², and has a population of . , the population included 97,461 foreigners, or about 20.9% of the total population. The capital is St. Gallen. Spelling...

    , Claudius Graf-Schelling president of the government of Thurgau
    Thurgau
    Thurgau is a northeast canton of Switzerland. The population, , is . In 2007, there were a total of 47,390 who were resident foreigners. The capital is Frauenfeld.-History:...

    , and Josef Arnold Landammann of Uri
    Canton of Uri
    Uri is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss River between Lake Lucerne and the St. Gotthard Pass. German is the primary language spoken in Uri...

    .
  • June 2- The parliament of the Republic of Macedonia
    Republic of Macedonia
    Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

     approves the new government of Prime Minister Hari Kostov
    Hari Kostov
    Hari Kostov was the prime minister of Republic of Macedonia from May 2004 to November 2004. He was appointed to the position of Prime Minister by the parliament on May 31, 2004, two weeks after being nominated by President Branko Crvenkovski. Kostov was an economic advisor to the Macedonian...

    .
  • June 10- The Congress of New Caledonia
    New Caledonia
    New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

     elects Marie-Noëlle Thémereau
    Marie-Noëlle Thémereau
    Marie-Noëlle Thémereau is the former president of the government of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. She is a member of the loyalist Future Together party...

     as new president of the government.
  • June 14- Oscar Temaru
    Oscar Temaru
    Oscar Manutahi Temaru is a French Polynesian politician. He has been President of French Polynesia , a French dependency with broad powers of self-rule, on five occasions: in 2004, from 2005 to 2006, from 2007 to 2008, in 2009, and again since 1 April 2011.-Career:He first served as the President...

     is elected president of French Polynesia
    French Polynesia
    French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...

    .
  • June 15- Ivan Gašparovič
    Ivan Gašparovic
    Ivan Gašparovič is a Slovak politician and law professor who has been the President of Slovakia since 15 June 2004. He is also the first Slovak president to be re-elected.-Biography:...

     takes office as president of Slovakia
    Slovakia
    The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

    .
  • June 26- Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain
    Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain
    Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is a politician from Pakistan who was the Prime Minister of that country from June 30, 2004 until August 28 2004...

     is named as new prime minister of Pakistan
    Pakistan
    Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

    .
  • June 27 - New President of Serbia
    President of Serbia
    The President of Serbia is the head of state of Serbia. Presently serving as the head of state is Boris Tadić. He was elected with a narrow majority of 50.31% in the 2008 Serbian presidential elections.-Authority, legal and constitutional rights:...

    , Boris Tadić
    Boris Tadic
    Boris Tadić is the President of Serbia and leader of the Democratic Party. He was elected to a five-year term on 27 June 2004, and was sworn into office on 11 July. He was re-elected for a de facto second five-year term on 3 February 2008 and was sworn in on 15 February...

     elected.
  • June 28 - Canadian federal elections
    Canadian federal election, 2004
    The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...

     occur; the Liberal party loses its absolute majority.

July

  • July 1 - Horst Köhler
    Horst Köhler
    Horst Köhler is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on...

     takes office as President of Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

    .
  • July 1- Adrian Ballmer becomes president of the government of Basel-Land; Gerhard Odermatt Landammann of Nidwalden
    Nidwalden
    Nidwalden is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the centre of Switzerland. The population is 40,287 of which 4,046 are foreigners. The capital is Stans.-History:...

    ; Elisabeth Gander-Hofer Landammann of Obwalden
    Obwalden
    Obwalden is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the centre of Switzerland. The population is 33,997 of which 4,043 are foreigners. Its capital is Sarnen. The canton contains the geographical centre of Switzerland.-History:...

    ; and Kurt Zibung Landammann of Schwyz
    Schwyz
    The town of is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.The Federal Charter of 1291 or Bundesbrief, the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the Bundesbriefmuseum.-History of the toponym:...

    .
  • July 1- M. Jodi Rell
    M. Jodi Rell
    Mary Jodi Rell is a Republican politician and was the 87th Governor of the U.S. state of Connecticut from 2004 until 2011. She was the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut under Governor John G. Rowland, who resigned during a corruption investigation. Rell is Connecticut's second female Governor,...

     is sworn in as Governor of Connecticut
    Connecticut
    Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

    .
  • July 3 - Michael Frendo
    Michael Frendo
    Michael Frendo is a Maltese politician who has been Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta since 2010. Previously he served in the government of Malta as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2008.-Political life:...

     is sworn in as foreign minister of Malta
    Malta
    Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

    .
  • July 5 - T. V. Rajeshwar is appointed Governor of Uttar Pradesh
    Uttar Pradesh
    Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

    .
  • July 6 - John Edwards
    John Edwards
    Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...

     named as John Kerry
    John Kerry
    John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

    's running mate for U.S. President.
  • July 6- Ivo Vajgl
    Ivo Vajgl
    Ivo Vajgl is a Slovenian politician and diplomat.-Political career:Born in Maribor, he studied at the University of Ljubljana. He was appointed foreign minister by Prime Minister Anton Rop on 6 July 2004, replacing Dimitrij Rupel, who left the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia party to join the...

     becomes foreign minister of Slovenia
    Slovenia
    Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

    .
  • July 8 - Heinz Fischer
    Heinz Fischer
    Heinz Fischer GColIH is the President of Austria. He took office on 8 July 2004 and was re-elected for a second and last term on 25 April 2010. Before he took office, Fischer was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria...

     is sworn in as President of Austria
    Austria
    Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

    .
  • July 9 - Ahmed Nazif
    Ahmed Nazif
    Ahmed Nazif served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 14 July 2004 to 29 January 2011, when his cabinet was dismissed by President Hosni Mubarak in light of a popular uprising that led to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011...

     is named Prime Minister of Egypt
    Egypt
    Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

    .
  • July 11 - Boris Tadić
    Boris Tadic
    Boris Tadić is the President of Serbia and leader of the Democratic Party. He was elected to a five-year term on 27 June 2004, and was sworn into office on 11 July. He was re-elected for a de facto second five-year term on 3 February 2008 and was sworn in on 15 February...

     is sworn in as President of Serbia
    Serbia
    Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

    .
  • July 12 - Pedro Santana Lopes
    Pedro Santana Lopes
    Pedro Miguel de Santana Lopes , a Portuguese lawyer and politician, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 2004 to 2005. He is a former and current Member of the Portuguese Parliament.-Background:...

     appointed Prime Minister of Portugal.
  • July 17 - António Monteiro
    Antônio Monteiro
    Antônio dos Santos Monteiro was a Brazilian actor, director and writer.He began his career of actor and clown in 1981 to 25 years of age...

     is sworn in as Foreign Minister of Portugal
    Portugal
    Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

    .
  • July 19 - Marie Arena
    Marie Arena
    Marie Arena is a French-speaking Belgian politician, member of the Francophone Socialist Party . She was the Minister-President of the French Community of Belgium from July 2004 until March 2008. She then became Minister for Social Integration, Pensions and Large Cities in the federal government,...

     becomes minister-president of the French Community of Belgium
    French Community of Belgium
    The French Community of Belgium is one of the three official communities in Belgium along with the Flemish Community and the German speaking Community. Although its name could suggest that it is a community of French citizens in Belgium, it is not...

    ; Charles Picqué
    Charles Picqué
    Charles Picqué is a Belgian, French-speaking politician. He is currently serving his second term as Minister-President of the Brussels Capital-Region....

     becomes minister-president of Brussels-Capital
  • July 20 - Karel De Gucht
    Karel De Gucht
    Karel Lodewijk Georgette Emmerence De Gucht is a Belgian politician who has been the European Commissioner for Trade since 2010...

     is sworn in as foreign minister of Belgium
    Belgium
    Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

  • July 20 - Canadian
    Canada
    Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

     prime minister Paul Martin
    Paul Martin
    Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

     announces his new cabinet. See Cabinet of Canada
    Cabinet of Canada
    The Cabinet of Canada is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada...

    .
  • July 21 - Artis Pabriks
    Artis Pabriks
    Artis Pabriks is a Latvian politician, a former Foreign Minister of Latvia and the current Minister of Defence of Latvia....

     is elected foreign minister of Latvia
    Latvia
    Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

    .
  • July 22 - Yves Leterme
    Yves Leterme
    Yves Camille Désiré Leterme is a Flemish Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party , and the 48th Prime Minister of Belgium.Leterme was the Prime Minister of Belgium from March 2008 to December 2008...

     becomes minister-president of Flanders
    Flanders
    Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

    .
  • July 26 - Stanislav Gross
    Stanislav Gross
    Stanislav Gross is a Czech lawyer and former politician, member of the Czech Social Democratic Party . He served as minister of the interior and as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic .-Early political career:...

     is appointed as the prime minister of the Czech Republic
    Czech Republic
    The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

    .
  • July 30 - Jean Asselborn
    Jean Asselborn
    Jean Asselborn is a Luxembourger politician. Since 31 July 2004, he has been the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration in the government led by Jean-Claude Juncker....

     becomes foreign minister of Luxembourg
    Luxembourg
    Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

    ,

August

  • August 10 - George Yeo
    George Yeo
    George Yeo Yong-Boon is a former politician from Singapore. A member of the governing People's Action Party , he served in the Cabinet from 1991 to 2011 as the Minister for Information and the Arts , Minister for Health , Minister for Trade and Industry and Minister for Foreign Affairs...

     becomes foreign minister of Singapore
    Singapore
    Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

    .
  • August 12 - Lee Hsien Loong
    Lee Hsien Loong
    Lee Hsien Loong is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. He is married to Ho Ching, who is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew....

     is sworn in as prime minister of Singapore
    Singapore
    Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

    .
  • August 16 - Søren Jessen-Petersen
    Søren Jessen-Petersen
    Søren Jessen-Petersen is an international civil servant from Denmark. He was named Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Kosovo and head of UNMIK on 16 June 2004 and held the position until the end of June 2006...

     takes office as Kosovo
    Kosovo
    Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

     administrator.
  • August 17 - Aleksandr Zhilkin
    Aleksandr Zhilkin
    Alexander Alexandrovich Zhilkin is the governor of Astrakhan Oblast in Russia. He became acting governor in August 2004, when governor Anatoly Guzhvin, who had been the leader of the oblast for over a decade, died. Zhilkin was elected governor as a candidate of the United Russia party in 2004,...

     becomes acting governor of Astrakhan Oblast
    Astrakhan Oblast
    Astrakhan Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Astrakhan.-Demographics:Population: Ethnic groups...

    .
  • August 18 - Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba
    Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba
    Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba is a political figure from Bhutan. He was Prime Minister of Bhutan two times: first from 2000 to 2001; then from August 20, 2004 to September 5, 2005...

     takes office as prime minister of Bhutan
    Bhutan
    Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

    .
  • August 18 - Alberto Romulo
    Alberto Romulo
    Alberto Gatmaitan Rómulo is a politician in the Philippines. He served as Foreign Secretary before and during the beginning of the administration of President Benigno Aquino III....

     is appointed as foreign secretary of the Philippines
    Philippines
    The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

    .
  • August 23 - Babulal Gaur
    Babulal Gaur
    Babulal Gaur is a current cabinet minister in BJP ministry of Madhya Pradesh and a former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, India. He was born in a Yadav family in a village in Uttar Pradesh. He served as chief minister from August 23 2004 following the resignation of Uma Bharti...

     is sworn in as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh
    Madhya Pradesh
    Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

    .
  • August 25 - The Hungarian Socialist Party
    Hungarian Socialist Party
    The Hungarian Socialist Party describes itself as a social democratic party in Hungary. It is the partial successor of the communist Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party , which ruled Hungary between 1956 and 1989. The decision to declare the party a successor of the MSZMP was controversial, and...

     picks Ferenc Gyurcsány
    Ferenc Gyurcsány
    Ferenc Gyurcsány is a Hungarian politician. He was the sixth Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009.He was nominated to take that position on 25 August 2004 by the Hungarian Socialist Party , after Péter Medgyessy resigned due to a conflict with the Socialist Party's coalition partner...

     to be Prime Minister of Hungary
    Hungary
    Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

    .
  • August 27 - Shaukat Aziz
    Shaukat Aziz
    Shaukat Aziz is a world acclaimed Pakistani economist who was the 15th Prime Minister of Pakistan from May 20, 2004 to 15 November 2007 in a joint military government led by General Pervez Musharraf. A Citibank executive, Aziz returned to Pakistan from the United States to be became Finance...

     is elected Prime Minister of Pakistan
    Pakistan
    Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

     by the National Assembly of Pakistan
    National Assembly of Pakistan
    The National Assembly of Pakistan is the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura, which also compromises the President of Pakistan and Senate . The National Assembly and the Senate both convene at Parliament House in Islamabad...

    .
  • August 31 - Oommen Chandy
    Oommen Chandy
    Oommen Chandy is an Indian politician and the current Chief Minister of Kerala. He has held the Chief Minister of Kerala position earlier from 2004 to 2006, and was the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011.-Early life:Oommen Chandy or 'Kunjoonju' was born...

     is sworn in as chief minister of Kerala
    Kerala
    or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

    .

September

  • September 1 - Terry Davis takes office as secretary-general of the Council of Europe
    Council of Europe
    The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...

    .
  • September 1 - Martín Torrijos
    Martín Torrijos
    Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino is a Panamanian politician and the former President of the Republic of Panama.Torrijos was elected President on May 2, 2004...

     takes office as president of Panama
    Panama
    Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

    ; Samuel Lewis Navarro
    Samuel Lewis Navarro
    Samuel Lewis Navarro was the First Vice President and Foreign Minister of Panama. He served in these posts from 1 September 2004 to 1 July 2009 during the administration of President Martín Torrijos....

     becomes Vice President.
  • September 2 - Col. Michel Sallé becomes Interior Minister of the Central African Republic
    Central African Republic
    The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...

    .
  • September 9 - Anatoly Kvashnin
    Anatoly Kvashnin
    General of the Army Anatoly Vasiliyevich Kvashnin was the Chief of the Russian General Staff from 1997 to 2004, when he was dismissed by President Vladimir Putin. Kvashnin graduated from the Kurgan Machine-building Institute in 1969 and served in the armed forces from this time...

     is appointed as Vladimir Putin
    Vladimir Putin
    Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

    's plenipotentiary in the Sibirsky
    Siberian Federal District
    Siberian Federal District is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its population was 19,254,300 according to the 2010 Census, living on an area of...

     federal district.
  • September 10 - Alan Boradzov is confiremed Prime Minister of North Ossetia.
  • September 13 - Dmitry Kozak
    Dmitry Kozak
    Dmitry Nikolayevich Kozak , is a Russian politician, serving since October 2008 as deputy Prime minister of the Russian Federation....

     is appointed as Vladimir Putin
    Vladimir Putin
    Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

    's plenipotentiary in Southern Federal District
    Southern Federal District
    Southern Federal District is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its territory lies mostly on the Pontic-Caspian steppe. Its population was 13,856,700 according to the 2010 Census, living on an area of...

     of Russia
    Russia
    Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

    .
  • September 15 - Halldór Ásgrímsson
    Halldór Ásgrímsson
    Halldór Ásgrímsson is an Icelandic politician, formerly Prime Minister of Iceland from 2004 to 2006 and leader of the Progressive Party from 1994 to 2006.-Education and early life:...

     becomes Prime Minister of Iceland
    Iceland
    Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

    .
  • September 27 - Nobutaka Machimura
    Nobutaka Machimura
    is a Japanese politician. He is a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He was Chief Cabinet Secretary in the government of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda from 2007 to 2008.- Career :...

     becomes foreign minister of Japan
    Japan
    Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

    .
  • September 28 - Tsendiin Mönkh-Orgil is approved as foreign minister of Mongolia
    Mongolia
    Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

    .
  • September 29 - Ignacio Walker Prieto is named foreign minister of Chile
    Chile
    Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

    .
  • September 29 - Dermot Ahern
    Dermot Ahern
    Dermot Christopher Ahern is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála for the Louth constituency from 1987 to 2011...

     becomes foreign minister of the Republic of Ireland
    Republic of Ireland
    Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

    .

October

  • October 1 - Giuseppe Arzilli
    Giuseppe Arzilli
    Giuseppe Arzilli was Captain Regent of San Marino.He served the six-month terms from October 1986 to April 1987, from October 1999 to April 2000, and from October 2004 to April 2005. He is a member of the San Marinese Christian Democratic Party.-External links:*...

     and Roberto Raschi
    Roberto Raschi
    Roberto Raschi was Captain Regent of San Marino.He was in office with Giuseppe Arzilli during the six-months term from October 1, 2004 to April 1, 2005.He is a member of the San Marinese Socialist Party.-References:...

     take office as captains-regent of San Marino
    San Marino
    San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino , is a state situated on the Italian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. It is an enclave surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino...

    .
  • October 3 - Nodar Khashba
    Nodar Khashba
    Nodar Vladimirovich Khashba is a former prime minister of Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia and a former mayor of Sukhumi....

     is appointed as Prime Minister of the Republic of Georgia.
  • October 5 - Alu Alkhanov
    Alu Alkhanov
    Alu Dadashevich Alkhanov is a Russian politician, the former president of Russia's Chechen Republic.Alkhanov is a career police officer who fought within the ranks of the Russian army during the First Chechen War. He was elected president on August 30, 2004, under controversial circumstances...

     is sworn in as president of Chechnya
    Chechnya
    The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...

    .
  • October 6 - Norodom Sihamoni
    Norodom Sihamoni
    Norodom Sihamoni is the current reigning King of Cambodia. He is the eldest son of Norodom Sihanouk and Norodom Monineath Sihanouk. Previously Cambodia's ambassador to UNESCO, he was named by a nine-member throne council to become the next king after his father Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in 2004...

     is chosena as King of Cambodia
    Cambodia
    Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

    .
  • October 9 - Australian election held, John Howard
    John Howard
    John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....

    's conservative government re-elected for a fourth term.
  • October 10 - Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
    Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
    Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed is a veteran Somali politician. He is one of the founders of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, as well as the Puntland State of Somalia, where he served as the autonomous region's first President...

     is elected by the Transitional National Assembly of Somalia as President.
  • October 13 - Atay Aliyev is named Prime Minister of Dagestan.
  • October 14 - Sidi Moro Sanneh
    Sidi Moro Sanneh
    Sidi Moro Sanneh is a Gambian economist, political figure and diplomat.Sanneh studied and worked in the United States, particularly in urban development. He joined the Gambian civil service in 1977. He later became an advisor to the United Nations and worked as a director at the African...

     is appointed as foreign minister of The Gambia
    The Gambia
    The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....

    .
  • October 19 - Lt.Gen. Soe Win
    Soe Win
    General Soe Win was the Prime Minister of Burma and Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council from 2004 to 2007. He was known by Burmese dissident groups as "the butcher of Depayin" for his role as mastermind of the 2003 Depayin Massacre, in which 70 National League for Democracy...

     becomes Prime Minister of Myanmar
    Myanmar
    Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

    .
  • October 20 - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
    Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
    Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono AC , is an Indonesian politician and retired Army general officer who has been President of Indonesia since 2004....

     is sworn in as President of Indonesia
    Indonesia
    Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

    .
  • October 20 - Ursula Plassnik
    Ursula Plassnik
    Ursula Plassnik is an Austrian diplomat and politician. She was Foreign Minister of Austria between October 2004 and December 2008.-Early life and career:...

     is sworn in as foreign minister of Austria
    Austria
    Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

    .
  • October 21 - Omar Karami
    Omar Karami
    Omar Abdul Hamid Karami was the Prime Minister of Lebanon on two separate occasions...

     is named Prime Minister of Lebanon
    Lebanon
    Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

    .
  • October 26 - Petrus Compton
    Petrus Compton
    Petrus Compton also known by his nickname, "Papo", is a Saint Lucian politician and senator. He was the Foreign Minister of Saint Lucia from October 26, 2004, when he was appointed to succeed Julian Hunte, until December 2006, when a new government took office...

     becomes foreign minister of Saint Lucia
    Saint Lucia
    Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 620 km2 and has an...

    .

November

  • November 2 - George W. Bush
    George W. Bush
    George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

     re-elected for a second and final four-year term as U.S. President
    President of the United States
    The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

    .
  • November 2 - Ferenc Somogyi
    Ferenc Somogyi
    Ferenc Somogyi is a former Hungarian Ambassador to the United States.-Career:A former businessman, he is a member of the Hungarian Socialist Party and served as foreign minister from November 1, 2004 until a cabinet shuffle in June 2006. His appointment to that position was announced in September...

     is sworn in as foreign minister of Hungary
    Hungary
    Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

    .
  • November 3 - Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan becomes President of the United Arab Emirates
    United Arab Emirates
    The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

    .
  • November 3 - Janez Janša
    Janez Janša
    Janez Janša is a Slovenian politician who was Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2004 to November 2008. He has also been President of the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993...

     becomes Prime Minister-designate of Slovenia
    Slovenia
    Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

    .
  • November 8 - Brenda Christian
    Brenda Christian
    Brenda Vera Amelia Lupton-Christian is a political figure from the Pacific territory of the Pitcairn Islands.-Mayor of the Pitcairn Islands :...

     becomes mayor of Pitcairn Island.
  • November 10 - Abdelbaki Hermassi
    Abdelbaki Hermassi
    Abdelbaki Hermassi is a Tunisian politician. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia from November 10, 2004 when he was appointed during a cabinet reshuffle, until another cabinet reshuffle on August 17, 2005 when he lost that position. He was previously the minister of culture of Tunisia...

     is named foreign minister of Tunisia
    Tunisia
    Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

    .
  • November 11 - Rauhi Fattouh becomes acting President of Palestine.
  • November 18 - The New Zealand
    New Zealand
    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

     parliament passes legislation
    New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy
    The New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy is a debate in the politics of New Zealand. It concerns the ownership of the country's foreshore and seabed, with many Māori groups claiming that Māori have a rightful claim to title. These claims are based around historical possession and the Treaty...

     vesting ownership of all land up to the high tide mark in New Zealand with the Crown.
  • November 18 - Monyane Moleleki
    Monyane Moleleki
    Monyane Moleleki is the Minister of Natural Resources of Lesotho. He has been a minister in the Lesotho government for a long time, and has also been Minister of Information and Minister of Foreign Affairs....

     is named foreign minister of Lesotho
    Lesotho
    Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name...

    .
  • November 20 - Alí Rodríguez Araque is named foreign minister of Venezuela
    Venezuela
    Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

    .
  • November 22 - Mariya Bolshakova becomes acting governor of Ulyanovsk Oblast
    Ulyanovsk Oblast
    Ulyanovsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Ulyanovsk...

    .
  • November 22 - Ralph Klein is re-elected as Premier of Alberta
    Alberta
    Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

     with 61 of 83 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
    Legislative Assembly of Alberta
    The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is one of two components of the Legislature of Alberta, the other being the Queen, represented by the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. The Alberta legislature meets in the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital, Edmonton...

    .

December

  • December 1 - Martine Brunschwig Graf
    Martine Brunschwig Graf
    Martine Brunschwig Graf is a Swiss politician, member of the Swiss National Council for the Canton of Geneva in FDP.The Liberals....

     becomes president of the Council of State of Genève.
  • December 2 - Syed Sibtey Razi
    Syed Sibtey Razi
    Syed Sibtey Razi is an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress who has been Governor of Assam since July 2009. Previously he was Governor of Jharkhand.-Early life:...

     is appointed governor of Jharkhand
    Jharkhand
    Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...

    .
  • December 2 - The new government of Latvia
    Latvia
    Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

    n Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis
    Aigars Kalvitis
    Aigars Kalvītis is a Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia and current Chairman of the Board of Latvijas Balzams....

     is approved.
  • December 3 - Ramush Haradinaj
    Ramush Haradinaj
    Ramush Haradinaj is a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army and former prime minister of Kosovo. He leads the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and is among former KLA officers charged of war crimes during the 1999 Kosovo War by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...

     is elected Prime Minister of Serbia and Montenegro
    Serbia and Montenegro
    Serbia and Montenegro was a country in southeastern Europe, formed from two former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia : Serbia and Montenegro. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was established in 1992 as a federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...

    .
  • December 7 - Milos Vystrcil is elected governor of Vysocina
    Vysocina Region
    Vysočina Region , is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located partly in the south-eastern part of the historical region of Bohemia and partly in the south-west of the historical region of Moravia...

    .
  • December 8 - Ephraïm Inoni
    Ephraïm Inoni
    Ephraïm Inoni is a Cameroonian politician who was Prime Minister of Cameroon from 2004 to 2009. He was a long-time aide of President Paul Biya and is a member of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement...

     is appointed prime minister of Cameroon
    Cameroon
    Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

     and Laurent Esso
    Laurent Esso
    Laurent Esso is a Cameroonian politician who has held a succession of key posts under President Paul Biya since 1988. He was Minister of Justice from 1996 to 2000, Minister of Public Health from 2000 to 2001, Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2004, and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2006...

     is appointed foreign minister.
  • December 9 - Cellou Dalein Diallo
    Cellou Dalein Diallo
    Cellou Dalein Diallo is a Guinean economist and politician who was Prime Minister of Guinea from 2004 to 2006. Currently he is President of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea , an opposition party....

     is appointed Prime Minister of Guinea
    Guinea
    Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

    .
  • December 11 - Ham Lini
    Ham Lini
    Ham Lini Vanuaroroa is a politician from Vanuatu. He is an MP from Pentecost Island in PENAMA Province. He was Prime Minister of Vanuatu from 11 December 2004 until 22 September 2008. Lini is the brother of Walter Lini, one of the founders of the modern Republic of Vanuatu...

     is elected Prime Minister of Vanuatu
    Vanuatu
    Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

    .
  • December 12 - Traian Băsescu
    Traian Basescu
    Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...

     is elected and as president of Romania
    Romania
    Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

    .
  • December 14 - Jim Marurai
    Jim Marurai
    Jim Marurai is a Cook Islands politician and former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Personal life:...

     is elected prime minister of the Cook Islands
    Cook Islands
    The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

    .
  • December 17 - Mikhail Kuznetsov takes office as governor of Pskov Oblast
    Pskov Oblast
    Pskov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Pskov Oblast borders the countries of Estonia and Latvia, as well as Belarus. It is the westernmost federal subject of contiguous Russia . Its major cities are the administrative center Pskov and Velikiye Luki . Area: 55,300 km²...

    .
  • December 22 - Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu
    Calin Popescu-Tariceanu
    Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu is a Romanian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Romania between 29 December 2004 and 22 December 2008...

     is nominated as Prime Minister of Romania
    Romania
    Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

    .
  • December 23 - Song Xiulian becomes acting governor of Qinghai
    Qinghai
    Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...

    .
  • December 26 - Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu is named foreign minister of Romania
    Romania
    Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

    .
  • December 28 - Nikolay Denin
    Nikolay Denin
    Nikolay Vasiliyevich Denin , born in 1958, is the governor of Bryansk Oblast in Russia. He is a member of the United Russia party. He won his election in 2004 by a wide margin after the incumbent governor, Yuri Lodkin was removed from the ballot by a court, just days before the vote...

     takes office as governor of Bryansk Oblast
    Bryansk Oblast
    Bryansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. Population: 1,278,087 .-History:...

    .

Deaths

(Very partial list of politicians who died in 2004)
  • January 6 - Dominica prime minister Pierre Charles
    Pierre Charles
    Pierre Charles was Prime Minister of Dominica from 2000 to 2004 as well as Member of Parliament for Grand Bay, Dominica from 1985 until his death. He was born in Grand Bay in Saint Patrick parish. He began his high school education at the Dominica Grammar School and completed it at the St...

     dies of heart problems.
  • January 15 - Maaruf al-Dawalibi, former Prime Minister of Syria
    Syria
    Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

    .
  • January 16 - Kalevi Sorsa
    Kalevi Sorsa
    Taisto Kalevi Sorsa was a Finnish politician who was Prime Minister of Finland four times: 1972–1975, 1977–1979, 1982–1983 and 1983–1987 and at the date of his death still held the Finnish record of most days of incumbency as prime minister...

    , former Prime Minister of Finland
    Finland
    Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

    .
  • February 11 - Jozef Lenárt
    Jozef Lenárt
    Jozef Lenárt was a Slovak politician.He graduated from a chemistry high school and worked for the Baťa company...

    , former Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia
    Czechoslovakia
    Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

    .
  • February 24 - Indian politician Sikander Bakht
    Sikander Bakht
    Sikander Bakht was a politician from India. He was one of the Indian statesman and one of tallest leaders of BJP.-Early life:...

    , governor of Kerala
    Kerala
    or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

     state, dies of an illness.
  • February 26 - Macedonian president Boris Trajkovski
    Boris Trajkovski
    Trajkovski died on 26 February 2004 in a plane crash en route to an economic conference in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aircraft crashed in thick fog and heavy rain on a mountainside in southeastern Herzegovina, near the villages of Huskovici and Rotimlja some eight miles south-south-east...

     is killed in a plane crash.
  • February 29 - Sir Harold Bernard St. John
    Harold Bernard St. John
    The Rt. Hon. Sir Harold Bernard St. John, KA was a Barbadian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of Barbados from 1985 to 1986. He was leader of the Barbados Labour Party from 1970 to 1971 and again from 1985 to 1987. He was widely known as "Bree".St. John was born in the Parish...

    , former Prime Minister of Barbados
    Barbados
    Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

    .
  • March 1 - Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde
    Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde
    Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde was a Comorian politician.Massounde served as Prime Minister from 27 March 1996 to 27 December 1996. After the death of President Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim on 6 November 1998, he became interim President. His government was overthrown in a 30 April 1999 military coup...

    , former Prime Minister of Comoros
    Comoros
    The Comoros , officially the Union of the Comoros is an archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar...

    .
  • March 5 - Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy
    Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy
    Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy served as Vice President of Ecuador and due to the ousting of President José María Velasco Ibarra, became President of Ecuador from 7 November 1961 to 11 July 1963....

    , former President of Ecuador
    Ecuador
    Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

    .
  • March 20 - Juliana of the Netherlands
    Juliana of the Netherlands
    Juliana was the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1948 and 1980. She was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry...

    , former Queen of the Netherlands
    Netherlands
    The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

    .
  • April 9 - Sein Lwin
    Sein Lwin
    Sein Lwin , was a President of Myanmar for 17 days in 1988.He joined the Army in 1943, and in 1944 joined Ne Win’s 4th Burma Rifles. He is believed to have personally killed Karen rebel leader Saw Ba U Gyi. General Sein Lwin had a reputation as being a henchman for General Ne Win...

    , former President of Myanmar
    Myanmar
    Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

    .
  • April 18 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
    Kamisese Mara
    Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG, KBE is considered the founding father of the modern nation of Fiji. He was Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992...

    , former President of Fiji
    Fiji
    Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

    .
  • May 9 - Russian-backed Chechnyan president Akhmad Kadyrov
    Akhmad Kadyrov
    Hajji Akhmad Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov , also spelled Akhmat, was the Chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the 1990s during and after the First Chechen War...

     is assassinated.
  • May 17 - Iraq Interim Governing Council president Ezzedine Salim
    Ezzedine Salim
    Ezzedine Salim, , also known as Abdelzahra Othman Mohammed , was an Iraqi politician.-Biography:...

     is assassinated.
  • June 2 - Tesfaye Gebre Kidan
    Tesfaye Gebre Kidan
    Tesfaye Gebre Kidan was an Ethiopian general who was President of Ethiopia for one week in late May 1991.Tesfaye was a student at Holetta Military Academy, where he met Mengistu Haile Mariam; according to Gebru Tareke, along with Legesse Asfaw and Gebreyes Wolde Hana Tesfaye was part of Mengistu's...

    , former acting President of Ethiopia
    Ethiopia
    Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

    .
  • June 5 - Former US President Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

     dies of Alzheimer's disease
    Alzheimer's disease
    Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...

     at the age of 93.
  • June 10 - Xenophon Zolotas
    Xenophon Zolotas
    Xenophon Zolotas , was a Greek economist and served as an interim non-party Prime Minister of Greece.-Early life and career:Born in Athens in 1904, Zolotas studied economics at the University of Athens, and later studied in Leipzig and Paris. He came from a wealthy family of goldsmiths with roots...

    , former Prime Minister of Greece
    Greece
    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

    .
  • June 16 - Thanom Kittikachor, former Prime minister of Thailand
    Thailand
    Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

    .
  • June 24 - Carlos Alberto Lacoste, former acting President of Argentina
    Argentina
    Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

    .
  • June 25 - L.F. Ramdat Misier, former acting President of Suriname
    Suriname
    Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

    .
  • Jule 5 - Hugh Lawson Shearer, former prime minister of Jamaica
    Jamaica
    Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

    .
  • July 6 - Austrian president Thomas Klestil
    Thomas Klestil
    Thomas Klestil was an Austrian diplomat and politician. He was elected the tenth President of Austria in 1992 and was re-elected to the position in 1998...

     dies of a heart attack just two days before he was to retire.
  • July 10 - Maria de Lurdes Pintassilgo, former Prime Minister of Portugal
    Portugal
    Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

    .
  • July 19 - Zenko Suzuki
    Zenko Suzuki
    was a Japanese politician and the 70th Prime Minister of Japan from July 17, 1980 to November 27, 1982.Suzuki graduated from Tokyo University of Fisheries in 1935...

    , former Prime Minister of Japan
    Japan
    Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

    .
  • September 12 - Ahmed Dini Ahmed
    Ahmed Dini Ahmed
    Ahmed Dini Ahmed was a Djiboutian politician. He served as Vice-President of the Government Council from 1959 to 1960 as a member of the African People's League for Independence and was later Prime Minister of Djibouti from 1977 to 1978...

    , former Prime Minister of Djibouti
    Djibouti
    Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

    .
  • September 23 - Winston Cinac, former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
    Saint Lucia
    Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 620 km2 and has an...

    .
  • November 11 - Former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
    Yasser Arafat
    Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...

     dies from a mysterious illness, aged 75.
  • November 18 - Alfred Maseng
    Alfred Maseng
    Alfred Maseng Nalo was a politician from Vanuatu. He served as foreign minister of Vanuatu from 1995 until 1996. He was also the president of Vanuatu for two brief periods lasting about a month each, during 1994 and 2004....

    , former President of Vanuatu
    Vanuatu
    Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

    .
  • November 26 - Hans Schaffner
    Hans Schaffner
    Hans Schaffner was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council ....

    , former President of Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    .
  • December 23 - P.V. Narasimha Rao, former Prime Minister of India
    India
    India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

    .

See also

  • 2004 Canadian federal election
    Canadian federal election, 2004
    The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...

  • Australian federal election, 2004
  • U.S. presidential election, 2004
  • Serbian presidential election, 2004
    Serbian presidential election, 2004
    Serbia held the first round of its 2004 elections for President of Serbia on Sunday, 13 June 2004, and the second round on Sunday, 27 June 2004. Boris Tadić, the pro-western Democratic Party's candidate, was the eventual victor...

  • European Parliament election, 2004
    European Parliament election, 2004
    Elections to the European Parliament were held from 10 June 2004 to 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom...

  • 2004 Annan Plan Referendum

External links

  • Rulers - Includes months in politics for 2004.
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