World Leaders Appointed in 2017 Quiz

Answer: Portugal

Antonio Guterres (born 30 April 1949) became the 9th Secretary-General of the UN. He previously held the appointment as UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015, and was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.

Answer: Gambia

Adama Barrow (born 1965), a former real estate developer, was elected as the 3rd President of Gambia, having won the election against former President Yahya Jammeh who had been in power for twenty-two years.

Barrow had to flee from Gambia to Senegal as Jammeh reneged on his obligation to step down. Military troops from Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria then entered Gambia to persuade Jemmeh to give up his power, with no resistance from the Gambian forces.

Jammeh finally became the first president to peacefully hand over power in Gambia since independence from Britain in 1965.

Answer: Moon Jae-in

Moon Jae-in (born 24 January 1953) was elected President of South Korea after a snap election in May to replace Park Geun-hye (born 2 February 1952).

Park, the first female president of South Korea, was the daughter of former president Park Chung-hee (from 1961 until his assassination in 1971). However, she was subsequently arrested and jailed over a corruption scandal, becoming the first democratically elected South Korean leader to be impeached. She was accused of receiving 59.2 billion won (US$52.7M) in bribes from business conglomerates which included Samsung Group.

Answer: Ethiopia

Dr. Tedros Adhanom (born 1965) from Ethiopia was the first African to be appointed in this position. He was the Ethiopian Minister of Health from 2005-2012 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012-2016.

He transformed Ethiopia's health system to expand quality care and access to tens of millions of Ethiopians, and helped key global actors like the Global Fund and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership to operate with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Answer: New Zealand

Jacinda Ardern (born 26 July 1980) became the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand. She was appointed on 26 October 2017.

Answer: Cyril Ramaphosa

Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952 at Soweto, Johannesberg) had served as the Deputy President under President Jacob Zuma since 2014.

On December 2017, he was elected as the President of the ANC, defeating Nkosazna Diamini-Zuma (ex-wife of Jacob Zuma).

Answer: Professional soccer player

George Weah (born 1 October 1966) was a retired professional soccer player who played as a striker. In 1995, he was the first African player to be named in the same year as African, European and the World Player of the Year. During his career, he played for AS Monaco, Paris St. Germain and AC Milan.

He succeeded Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female president. Weah was defeated by her in 2005 elections which were held shortly after the end of a vicious civil war.

Answer: Thirty-nine

On May 7, Emmanuel Macron defeated right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen to become President of France. Macron was born on 21 December 1977.

Answer: Zimbabwe

Robert Mugabe, who had been power since 1985, was replaced by a bloodless military coup in November. The senior military officers were unhappy with Mugabe's decision to appoint his wife to replace him as President.

Emmerson Mnangagwa (born 15 September 1942) became the third President of Zimbabwe on 24 November 2017.

Answer: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi (born 19 June 1970), son of deceased former Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi, was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress.

Indian National Congress founded in 1885 is the largest political party in India. From 1885-1947, founding members were working to propose economic reforms and to have a larger role in the making of British policy for India.