Countries With Foriegn Leaders?

[Sir Winston Churchill]

Are there any countries in the world that currently allow foreigners to run for the lead office of the nation?

[Stavroforos]

Well, Canada has a foreigner as its head of state.

[irontaino]

Canada, Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand, and the other Commonwealth Realms have a foreign monarch as (symbolic) head of state

[Sir Winston Churchill]

Canada, Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand, and the other Commonwealth Realms have a foreign monarch as (symbolic) head of state

Well they were colonies, they technically have ties with the UK. I mean like, a German French Prime Minister. Not a Puerto Rican US president.

[Stavroforos]

Well Greece's current prime minister is a duel-citizen of both Greece and the US.

Don't know if he had to renounce his US citizenship to become PM though.

[irontaino]

I think the Queen of Jordan is Kuwaiti

Well they were colonies, they technically have ties with the UK. I mean like, a German French Prime Minister. Not a Puerto Rican US president.

They have ties with the UK but they're different countries, and save for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, have different culture that the UK. The Queen of England is a foreigner to the Jamaicans, Papuans, or the Melanesians of the Solomon Islands. And a Puerto Rican president of the U.S. would certainly be considered foreign, someone from a Spanish speaking country presiding over an English speaking one.

[Tiberios]

I think the Queen of Jordan is Kuwaiti

But she isn't exactly leader of the country. According to wiki she is a Kuwaiti born Palestinian.

[Armfelt]

The English royal family is largely German, while the Swedish monarchs are the descendants of that traitorous sob Bernadotte.

[Tiberios]

The Norwegian Royal familiy is decended from the Danish. Don't know if that counts since it's over 100 years since the Danish prince was crowned King.

[RomanSoldier9001]

The Norwegian Royal familiy is decended from the Danish. Don't know if that counts since it's over 100 years since the Danish prince was crowned King.

Spanish Royal House is French in origin.

[Tiberios]

Spanish Royal House is French in origin.

That too

[Salvatorel]

The English royal family is largely German, while the Swedish monarchs are the descendants of that traitorous sob Bernadotte.

But descent is one and actual self identification and cultural allegiance other,besides this I think the author of this topic had meant actual foreign citizens and not locals with some foreign blood.
As for the royal houses,if we look carefully at extant European royal houses only Serbian Karadordevichs,Obrenovichs and (Montenegrin)Petrovichs and German/Austrian Hohenzollerns and Habsburgs were of actual "Native" descent(we can count Albanian Zogus,but as Zog I technically was an usurper I don't count them),others,even Romanovs or Braganzas,were either imported or descended from intermarriage,which would cause change of house name,but for some reasons their founders chose to keep the name of their spouse/old ruling house. So strictly speaking having a ruling royal house of foreign descent isn't enough to say that they are foreigners unless defined by their actions,political orientation and so on.

[Azog 150]

The English royal family is largely German, while the Swedish monarchs are the descendants of that traitorous sob Bernadotte.

German decent maybe, but that doesn't mean anything. I think the Monarch, most of the Royal Family and their descendants having been born and raised in Britain for the last several hundred years, and being Britain's Head of State, qualifies them as British. If you go back far enough the vast majority of Britain's will have some kind of foreign decendent. Same thing with the vast majorty of world leaders.





As Ferrets has already stated, its possible for the British PM to be foreign. Same thing with the Monarch.

[Armfelt]

German decent maybe, but that doesn't mean anything. I think the Monarch, most of the Royal Family and their descendants having been born and raised in Britain for the last several hundred years, and being Britain's Head of State, qualifies them as British.

Yes, though their German blood is quite fresh. They also maintain some German customs, like the proper North-German Lutheran way of opening Christmas presents at Christmas eve and not Christmas Day.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Are there any countries in the world that currently allow foreigners to run for the lead office of the nation?

The UK does. Nationality isn't relevant to the ability to run as a Member of Parliament.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

The UK does. Nationality isn't relevant to the ability to run as a Member of Parliament.

But as Prime Minister?

[removeduser_487563287433]

But as Prime Minister?

There's no rules concerning the Prime Minister and no statute references the position as existing: it's pure convention. By convention the Prime Minister must be the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Commons, and the leader must be a Member of Parliament. So yes, the Prime Minister can be a foreigner.

Off the top of my head, the highest ranking foreigner in the last Government was the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Peter Hain, who came to the UK from South Africa as a teenager.

[athanaric]

Last time Germany had a foreigner as a leader, things didn't turn out so well.
Nowadays, our highest ranking ex-foreigner is our health minister, who was born as a Filipino (but was adopted IIRC). We also have several Hugenot ministers or prominent politicians in some states - de Maizière (two different guys no less. One is currently federal minister of the interior), Bouffier, Sarrazin, etc. Also, many ex-Polish people. But both groups have been German for several generations, and don't really count.

[Sir Winston Churchill]

Last time Germany had a foreigner as a leader, things didn't turn out so well.
Nowadays, our highest ranking ex-foreigner is our health minister, who was born as a Filipino (but was adopted IIRC). We also have several Hugenot ministers or prominent politicians in some states - de Maizière (two different guys no less. One is currently federal minister of the interior), Bouffier, Sarrazin, etc. Also, many ex-Polish people. But both groups have been German for several generations, and don't really count.

Well, jokes about certain unfortunate Austrian immigrants aside, as I asked Ferrets is it possible for a foreigner to rise to the highest political position in Germany (which I believe is also a Prime Minister)?

[Treize]

A Swede and a Swiss Jew as ministers...