World Leaders Survivor Redux - Organisation Thread

[Platypus]

It's time to do this again!

Day by day, one leader from each of the 5 groups of 39 will be eliminated, until there are 14 left in each group. From there, two groups of 35 will continue, until there are 10 left in each, until we have our twenty finalists. The final five will be done not by disapproval vote-outs but by approval vote-ins.

I have assigned the groups more or less randomly, and tried to pick the most relevant leader for each. If you think I should've including a PM instead of a President or that I missed a country, let me know! This will start in a few days.

Also, i'll only vote as a tiebreaker, and only the final 5 will be done as polls; in the rest you'll be expected to make your vote public.

[Platypus]

STAGE 2 GROUP A

Antigua and Barbuda - Baldwin Spencer
Argentina - Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Austria - Werner Faymann
Barbados - David Thompson
Bolivia - Evo Morales
Belize - Dean Barrow
Brazil - Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Denmark - Lars Lokke Rasmussen
Ecuador - Rafael Correa
Estonia - Andrus Ansip
Finland - Tarja Halonen
Greece - Kostas Karamanlis
Japan - Taro Aso
Korea, South - Lee Myung-Bak
Liberia - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Luxembourg - Jean-Claude Juncker
Macedonia - Nikola Gruevski
Mali - Amadou Toumani Toure
Malta - Lawrence Gonzi
Mexico - Felipe Calderon
Micronesia - Manny Moni
Mongolia - Sanjaagiin Bayar
Netherlands - Jan Peter Balkenende
Norway - Jens Stoltenberg
Panama - Martin Torrijos
Peru - Alan Garcia
Portugal - Jose Socrates
Samoa - Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi
Sierra Leone - Ernest Bai Koroma
Spain - Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
Sweden - Frederik Reinfeldt
Timor-Leste - Xanana Gusmao
Trinidad and Tobago - Patrick Manning
United States - Barack Obama
Uruguay - Tabare Vasquez

[Platypus]

STAGE 2, GROUP B

Australia - Kevin Rudd
Belgium - Herman Van Rompuy
Benin - Yayi Boni
Botswana - Ian Khama
Chile - Michelle Bachelet
China, Rep. of - Ma Ying-jeou
Costa Rica - Oscar Arias
Cyprus - Dimitris Cristofias
Czech Rep. - Jan Fischer
Germany - Angela Merkel
Ghana - John Atta Mills
Greneda - Tillman Thomas
Hungary - Gordon Bajnai
Iceland - Johanna Sigursdardottir
India - Manmohan Singh
Ireland - Brian Cowen
Jamaica - Bruce Golding
Latvia - Valdis Dombrovskis
Lithuania - Valdas Adamkus
Maldives - Mohamed Nasheed
Marshall Islands - Litokwa Tomeing
Mauritius - Navin Ramgoolam
New Zealand - John Key
Paraguay - Fernando Lugo
Phillipines - Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Poland - Donald Tusk
Romania - Traian Basescu
Serbia - Mirko Cvetkovic
Slovenia - Bohut Pahor
Solomon Islands - Derek Sikua
Switzerland - Hans-Rudolf Merz
Tanzania - Jakaya Kikwete
United Kingdom - Gordon Brown
Vanuatu - Edward Natapei
Zambia - Rupiah Banda

[Platypus]

STAGE ONE GROUPS (obsolete)

Group 1

Armenia                                           Serzh Sargsyan
Azerbaijan                           Ilham Aliyev
Bangladesh                           Hasina Wajed
Belgium                                           Herman Van Rompuy
Botswana                                           Ian Khama
Burkina Faso                           Blaise Compaore
Cameroon                           Paul Biya
Comoros                                           Ahmed Abdallah Sambi
Cote d'Ivoire                           Laurent Gbagbo
Czech Republic                           Jan Fischer
Ecuador                                           Rafael Correa
Gambia, The                           Yahya Jammeh
Georgia                                           Mikheil Saakashvili
Greece                                           Kostas Karamanlis
Guinea-Bissau                           Carlos Gomes Junior
Iran                                           Ali Khamenai
Italy                                           Silvio Berlusconi
Korea, South                           Lee Myung-Bak
Latvia                                           Valdis Dombrovskis
Lithuania                                           Valdas Adumkus
Macedonia                           Nikola Gruevski
Mali                                           Amadou Toumani Toure
Mauritius                                           Navin Ramgoolam
Morocco                                           King Muhammed VI
Namibia                                           Hifikepunye Pohamba
Nigeria                                           Umaru Yar'Adua
Panama                                           Martin Torrijos
Philippines                           Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Qatar                                           Emir Hamad bin Khalifa
Rwanda                                           Paul Kagame
St Vincent and the Grenadines        Ralph Gonsalves
Singapore                                        Lee Hsieng Loong
Slovakia                                           Robert Fico
South Africa                           Jacob Zuma
Sweden                                           Frederik Reinfeldt
Tuvalu                                           Apisai Ielemia
Uzbekistan                           Islam Karimov
Venezuela                           Hugo Chavez
Zimbabwe                           Robert Mugabe

[Platypus]

Group 2

Albania   Sali Berisha
Andorra   Juame Bartumeu
Bahamas, The   Hubert Ingraham
Barbados   David Thompson
Bosnia and Herzegovina   Nikola Spiric
Cambodia   Hun Sen
Cape Verde   Pedro Pires
China, Rep of   Ma Ying-jeou
Congo (Kinshasa)   Joseph Kabila
Cyprus   Dimitris Christofias
Denmark   Lars Lokke Rasmussen
Dominican Republic   Leonel Fernandez
Estonia   Andrus Ansip
Finland   Tarja Halonen
Germany   Angela Merkel
Honduras   Manuel Zelaya
India   Manmohan Singh
Indonesia   Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Kenya   Mwai Kibaki
Kosovo   Hashim Thaci
Laos   Choummaly Sayasone
Liechtenstein   Prince Hans-Adam II
Mauritania   Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
Moldova   Vladimir Voronin
New Zealand   John Key
Nicaragua   Daniel Ortega
Pakistan   Asif Ali Zardari
Papua New Guinea   Michael Somare
Poland   Donald Tusk
Saint Kitts and Nevis   Denzil Douglas
Sao Tome and Principe   Fradique de Menezes
Sierra Leone   Ernest Bai Koroma
Slovenia   Borut Pahor
Somalia   Sharif Ahmed
Spain    Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
Togo   Faure Gnassingbe
Turkey   Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Uganda   Yoweri Museveni
United States   Barack Obama


Group 3

Angola   Jose Eduardo dos Santos
Australia   Kevin Rudd
Belarus   Alexander Lukashenko
Bolivia   Evo Morales
Brazil   Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Brunei Darussalam   Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah
Canada   Stephen Harper
Colombia   Alvaro Uribe
Congo (Brazzaville)   Denis Sassou Nguesso
Dominica   Roosevelt Skerrit
Egypt   Hosni Mubarak
France   Nicolas Sarkozy
Ghana   John Atta Mills
Guatemala   Alvaro Colom
Iceland   Johanna Sigursardottir
Israel   Benyamin Netanyahu
Jamaica   Bruce Golding
Korea, North   Kim Jong-Il
Lebanon   Fouad Siniora
Liberia   Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Malaysia   Najib Razak
Malta   Lawrence Gonzi
Micronesia   Manny Mori
Mongolia   Sanjaagiin Bayar
Nepal   Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Niger   Seyni Oumarou
Palau   Johnson Toribiong
Palestinian Territories   Mahmoud Abbas
Peru   Alan Garcia
Russia   Vladimir Putin
San Marino   Massimo Cenci
Seychelles   James Michel
Sudan   Omar al-Bashir
Tajikistan   Emomalii Rahmon
Thailand    Abhisit Vejjajiva
Tonga   Feleti Sevele
United Kingdom   Gordon Brown
Vanuatu   Edward Natapei
Zambia   Rupiah Banda

[Platypus]

(15000th post!)

Group 4

Algeria   Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Antigua and Barbuda   Baldwin Spencer
Argentina   Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Bahrain   King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah
Bhutan   Jigme Thinley
Burundi   Pierre Nkurunziza
Central African Republic   Francois Bozize
Chile   Michelle Bachelet
China, PR of   Hu Jintao
Cuba   Raul Castro
Djibouti   Ismail Omar Gulleh
El Salvador   Antonio Saca
Equatorial Guinea   Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Gabon   Omar Bongo
Guinea   Moussa Dadis Camara
Hungary   Gordon Bajnai
Iraq   Nouri al-Maliki
Kazakhstan   Nursultan Nazarbayev
Kiribati   Anote Tong
Kyrgyzstan   Kurmanbek Bakiyev
Lesotho   Pakalitha Mosisili
Luxembourg   Jean-Claude Juncker
Maldives   Mohamed Nasheed
Monaco   Prince Albert II
Montenegro   Milo Djukanovic
Netherlands   Jan Peter Balkenende
Oman   Sultan Qaboos
Paraguay   Fernando Lugo
Romania   Traian Basescu
Samoa    Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Mailelegaoi
Serbia   Mirko Cvetkovic
Sri Lanka   Mahinda Rajapaksa
Swaziland    King Mswati III
Syria   Bashar al-Assad
Tanzania   Jakaya Kikwete
Timor-Leste   Xanana Gusmao
Turkmenistan   Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow
Uruguay   Tabare Vazquez
Vietnam   Ngyuen Tan Dung


Group 5

Afghanistan   Hamid Karzai
Austria   Werner Faymann
Belize   Dean Barrow
Benin   Yayi Boni
Bulgaria   Sergei Stanishev
Burma   Than Shwe
Chad   Idriss Deby
Costa Rica   Oscar Arias
Croatia   Ivo Sanader
Eritrea   Isaias Afewerki
Ethiopia   Meles Zenawi
Fiji   Frank Bainimarama
Grenada   Tillman Thomas
Guyana   Bharrat Jagdeo
Haiti   Rene Preval
Ireland   Brian Cowen
Japan   Taro Aso
Jordan   King Abdullah II
Kuwait   Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Libya   Muammar al-Gaddafi
Madagascar   Monja Roindefo
Malawi   Bingu wa Mutharika
Marshall Islands   Litokwa Tomeing
Mexico   Felipe Calderon
Mozambique   Armando Guebuza
Nauru   Marcus Stephen
Norway   Jens Stoltenberg
Portugal   Jose Socrates
Saint Lucia   Stephenson King
Saudi Arabia   King Abdullah
Senegal   Abdoulaye Wade
Solomon Islands   Derek Sikua
Suriname   Ronald Venetiaan
Switzerland   Hans-Rudolf Merz
Trinidad and Tobago   Patrick Manning
Tunisia   Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
Ukraine   Viktor Yushenko
United Arab Emirates   Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Yemen   Ali Abdullah Saleh

[big bad fab]

Before you begin...

First, I know it's impossible to choose when you write a foreign name, but, as you seem to have opted for local writings (as in Armenia, your first one), it should be:
France: Nicolas
Bangladesh: Wajed
Israël: Benyamin
Argentina: Cristina.

Second, there is a real typo mistake in:
Uganda: Museveni.

Now, I think you should make 2 replacements:
Morocco: not the PM but the king Muhammed VI (as in Jordan, e.g.), who has more power and has time for him. It's quite clear.
Iran: ayatollah Ali Khamenei, not the president (BTW, it's Ahmadinejad); the supreme guide has chosen Ahmadinejad among presidential candidates in 2005... and will choose the next president. So, I think it's also a clear one.

As for Thailand, it's more debatable. King Bhumibol has huge influence and there's a big instability these days... But, sure, "normal" power lies in the prime ministership. So this replacement shouldn't be done.
In Russia, on the contrary, maybe the PM should replace the president in your list... But I don't think it's needed.

Anyway, fine idea and great thread.

[Platypus]

Thanks, mate. I was thinking of adding 5 'wildcards' for situations where there were two reasonable options, such as Russia and Iran, but decided against it.

I'll make all the naming changes now, and Morocco; I don't think the Thai King is sufficiently directly involved to be included so i'll leave tht. As for Russia and Iran, i'm going to wait for another comment or two.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

What a job!

[GMantis]

This is a great idea and I'm willing to volunteer my help if you want it!
Some ideas:
First, you might want to move this to Individual politics - it has more traffic.
Second, the first edition of this had the option to give immunity to one leader by the first voter. I think it might be a good idea to revive, perhaps for the initial rounds at least.
Third, most observers seem to agree that Putin plays the leading role in the Putin-Medvedev duumvirate, so he should be placed instead of Medvedev.

[Platypus]

This is a great idea and I'm willing to volunteer my help if you want it!
Some ideas:
First, you might want to move this to Individual politics - it has more traffic.
Second, the first edition of this had the option to give immunity to one leader by the first voter. I think it might be a good idea to revive, perhaps for the initial rounds at least.
Third, most observers seem to agree that Putin plays the leading role in the Putin-Medvedev duumvirate, so he should be placed instead of Medvedev.

I'm going to have random round immunity, you'll never know when it will happen

As for Russia, I tend to agree, but i'll leave it for a moment. Part of the reason for choosing Medvedev was that the leaders of most other big nations had changed and I figured Russia's had too, and also because at least in theory the President has more power.

[GMantis]

I think also that you should include the Vatican, due to the great influence of the pope.
Also, shouldn't you include Western Sahara, as they actually have wider recognition than Taiwan?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_limited_recognition

[Platypus]

I think also that you should include the Vatican, due to the great influence of the pope.
Also, shouldn't you include Western Sahara, as they actually have wider recognition than Taiwan?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_limited_recognition

Western Sahara doesn't have functional sovereignty, so no to that one. The Vatican was a hard choice, but I decided to cull it to make the groups an even size (I was thinking maybe Palestine instead, as neither are *really* countries.

Anyway, expression of opinions people:

1) Which Iranian leader should be listed?
2) Which Russian leader should be listed?
3) Should Kosovo, Taiwan, Palestine, Vatican City, Western Sahara, Northern Cyprus, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria be counted? Yes/No to each, please.

[dead0man]

1.ayatollah
2.not sure
3.no to all

[Lief 🗽]

Mahmoud, Medvedev, No

[big bad fab]

- Apart from Iran (it should be Khamenei: he has real and final power and Ahmadinejad may be beaten in the presidential election to be held very soon) and Russia (I would say Putin, after all),

there is the problem of Ukraine, because PM is more powerful since 2004 constitutional changes. So, Yushchenko or Tymoshenko ? But I would let Yushchenko, as PMs change a lot...

- Taiwan is a real country. You can't miss it. 100%.

Kosovo will remain independent, just a matter of time: so, list it. 95%.

Vatican is a state, with diplomatic relations with almost anyone. So, I think it can be listed. 90%.

Palestine has already some territories and will be a state, even in a longer term. So, list it. 70%.

Western Sahara is almost entirely occupied by Morocco. It has faded from the international agenda and its population may well "disappear" in different countries (Mauritania, Algeria, "great" Morocco). It's very likely it will never gain real independence. So, no, don't list it. 35%.

Cyprus will, one day or another, be reunified. So, no to Northern Cyprus. 15%.

South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria are artifical makings, manipulated from abroad. NO. 0%, 2% and 0%.

And I would say no to Somaliland (40%) and Puntland (10%), even if the first one may well become really independent (internationally recognized) sooner than we think.

[GMantis]

As to the first question, you should list Khamenei, and as to the third, replace Palestine with the Vatican.

[GMantis]

South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria are artifical makings, manipulated from abroad. NO. 0%, 2% and 0%.

The same is true of Kosovo.

[Gustaf]

In my opinion there should be a general rule as to which leader to include. The rule should either be head of government or whichever position has the most formal power. It gets illogical to pick whoever we suspect has the most real power in the country. At times this may reasonably be a non-elected person (such as Thaksin in Thailand, for instance).

[big bad fab]

In my opinion there should be a general rule as to which leader to include. The rule should either be head of government or whichever position has the most formal power. It gets illogical to pick whoever we suspect has the most real power in the country. At times this may reasonably be a non-elected person (such as Thaksin in Thailand, for instance).

You simply can't have a general rule.
Presidents and PM aren't the same in every country: see USA, France, Poland, Finland, Ukraine, Russia, Czech Republic, Romania, Germany, Ireland, 10 countries, 10 systems
(and sometimes, they don't even exist !).

[Platypus]

As a general rule, I included the President in a Presidential or Semi-Presidential system, and the PM in a parliamentary system.

I will change to Khamenai and Putin, continue to include Taiwan and Kosovo, and i'm still unsure on Palestine and the Vatican - next new commenter gets to detemine. Then, I will start the competition.

[Hash]

1) Khamenai
2) Putin
3) Yes to Kosovo, Taiwan, Palestine, Vatican, and Somaliland. No to the rest.

[Platypus]

1) Khamenai
2) Putin
3) Yes to Kosovo, Taiwan, Palestine, Vatican, and Somaliland. No to the rest.

Palestine or the Vatican to go forward?

[Platypus]

OK, i'm going to make a decision myself, based on three things:

1. Nobody is born in the Vatican, and it is fully dependant on another nation for every aspect of its continuing functionality;

2. The Pope is primarily a religious, not political/governmental leader and his function is as the leader of the Catholic Church, not as the leader of the Vatican City;

3. Palestine is more interesting considering the split in government, and therefore the more nuanced position on Abbas for the voters.

Palestine it is.

[Gustaf]

In my opinion there should be a general rule as to which leader to include. The rule should either be head of government or whichever position has the most formal power. It gets illogical to pick whoever we suspect has the most real power in the country. At times this may reasonably be a non-elected person (such as Thaksin in Thailand, for instance).

You simply can't have a general rule.
Presidents and PM aren't the same in every country: see USA, France, Poland, Finland, Ukraine, Russia, Czech Republic, Romania, Germany, Ireland, 10 countries, 10 systems
(and sometimes, they don't even exist !).

Sure you can. I just offered an example of a general rule in my post.