World Leaders of 2012 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cameron

David Cameron's Conservative Party formed a coalition with Liberal Democrats after a 'hung parliament' (i.e. no party got an overall majority of seats). The Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg was subsequently appointed Deputy Prime Minister.

Answer: Venezuela

Hugo Chavez was possibly the most well-known South American head of state in 2012. He was the leader of the United Socialist Party. Before that he led the Fifth Republic Movement.

Answer: Nicolas Sarkozy

Sarkozy served as President for one term between 2007-2012. His defeat was thought to have been caused by the global economic turmoil and his own unpopularity. Hollande became the first left-wing French President in seventeen years.

Aside from Hollande, François Mitterrand was the only other left-wing President of the Fifth French Republic. He served for fourteen years between 1981 and 1995.

Lionel Jospin was the Prime Minister of France from 1997 until 2002. He ran as the Socialist Party's presidential candidate in both 1995 and 2002.

Jacques Chirac was President of France from 1995-2007. He was well-known for his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as well as for being found guilty of corruption (misuse of public funds) in a trial that took place after he left office.

Answer: John Key

Key was the leader of the National Party, which was elected in 2008.

Helen Clark was a Labour Party Prime Minister, serving from 1999-2008.

Robert Muldoon was another National Party Prime Minister who held office between 1975-1984.

David Shearer was the leader of the Labour Party in 2012.

Answer: False

Putin was elected President for a third term, not Prime Minister. Dmitry Medvedev replaced him as Prime Minister, having himself previously served as President between 2008 and 2012.

Answer: Chancellor of Germany

She was viewed as one of the leading politicians in Europe, having been at the centre of the Eurozone crisis. She was leader of the Christian Democratic Union and became Chancellor in 2005.

Answer: North Korea

He succeeded his father, Kim Jong-il, after he passed away in 2011.

Answer: Conservative Party

He was the leader of the Conservative Party. He first became Prime Minister in 2006 as the head of a minority government, and won an outright majority in 2011. During his first five years in office, the main opposition party was the Liberal Party. However, in the 2011 federal election, the New Democrats overtook the Liberals to become the second-largest party in both seats and votes.

The popularity of the NDP's leader Jack Layton (who passed away later that year) is widely thought to have been one of the main reasons for this.

Answer: Mitt Romney

Romney served as Governor of Massachusetts from 2003-2007. He had previously run for the Republican nomination in 2008. He had also challenged the "Liberal Lion" Ted Kennedy for his Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat in 1994.

George W. Bush served as President from 2001-2009.

Rick Santorum was Romney's most serious opponent in the 2012 Republican primaries.

Paul Ryan was the presumptive Republican Vice Presidential nominee in 2012.

Answer: Kevin Rudd

She in fact defeated him on two occasions - in 2010 to take the leadership and premiership away from him, and in 2012 when he challenged her amid poor poll ratings for the Labor government.

John Howard was a Liberal Party Prime Minister and one of the longest serving PMs in Australian history. He held the office between 1996 and 2007.

Tony Abbott was the leader of the Liberal Party in 2012, and narrowly failed to win the 2010 federal election.

Paul Keating was a Labor Party Prime Minister who was known for his outspoken views on his political opponents. He served from 1991-1996.