Khaberni - After the British Prime Minister, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, announced his resignation from his position, Downing Street is preparing to welcome the seventh Prime Minister in a single decade. This number is significant for a country known historically for the relative stability of its governments compared to its neighbors in the European Union, thanks to its simplified electoral system based on winning a majority of votes (simple majority) and the nature of its adopted political system.
However, this image was shaken as the United Kingdom entered a period marked by political unrest following the “Brexit” referendum, during which none of the prime ministers managed to complete a full term in office, including David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.
Although the United Kingdom has emerged in recent years as a hub of political polarization and an environment that contradicts the stability of governments, it is not an exceptional case in Europe. So, who then are the countries that change their leaders the most in governance?
Romania at the front
With Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, nominated to lead the Labour Party, and thus the seventh British Prime Minister since 2016, the country finds itself at the center of today's debate being “ungovernable” and having the highest rate of leadership changes in Europe. However, the European political reality shows that Britain is not alone in this turmoil.
A report published by the European network “Euronews” which included prime ministers and any other position equivalent to them in governance and authority in European countries, indicates that Britain is tied for third place with Austria with seven government chairs between 2016 and 2026. This investigation by the network does not include interim prime ministers or those who secured a transitional period between one government and another.
Romania alone tops the list with eleven prime ministers in the same period, with the latest government head who completed a full term in office dating back to 2008, noting that the Prime Minister in Romania shares his powers with the President at the highest executive authority.
Bulgaria comes in second place with ten government chairs due to years of political instability and the fragility of party coalitions, while Italy confirmed its reputation as a politically volatile country with an average of one government per year since World War II, ranking fourth equally with Latvia and Slovakia, with five prime ministers each.
Conflicting Criteria
However, this investigative process acknowledges the difficulty of comparisons in the face of the complexities and differences in governance systems, between parliamentary systems and presidential ones, and between the positions of the prime minister, the chancellor, and the president, the latter of whom shares his powers with the head of government, particularly matching the model of France.
Usually, these differences alongside the legal and constitutional conditions adopted for the dismissal or replacement of politicians, are a significant factor influencing the stability of leaders in their positions.
If we limit ourselves to the position of the prime minister, then France ranks third, where it experienced nine changes at this level under the paralysis that followed the legislative elections in 2024, which did not yield a clear parliamentary majority but three ideologically diverse blocks, leading to a rapid succession of prime ministers, beginning from Gabriel Attal to Michel Barnier to François Bayrou and reaching the current Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu.
But returning to the position of the president, France drops to the bottom of the ranking with only two presidents between 2016 and 2026, just like Spain and Portugal, which each had two prime ministers in the same period.
A government every year
The discussion in Europe is not limited to the number of changes that hit prime ministers or ministers, but also about how long the entire government lasts. Revisiting the British example, for instance, the tenure of Liz Truss in 2022 lasted only 49 days, raising a legitimate question about the average duration of governments in Europe.
To answer this question, an analysis conducted by the Pew Research Center (based in the United States) indicates a change at least once for governments in most European countries, from the end of World War II until 2022.
However, governments in countries like Belgium, Finland, and Italy generally do not actually last more than one year. In these countries, the average length ofType a government since World War II was less than 365 days, much less than the full constitutional period granted to the new government.
When a government fails, whether through a vote of no confidence, resignation, or cabinet reshuffle, a new government is formed in one of two ways, either through forming party coalitions or early elections.
Interim governments
This situation leads to the emergence of interim governments, which vary from one country to another in terms of their duration.
The Netherlands has witnessed the highest number of interim governments compared to any other country in this analysis, with a total of 11 governments since World War II.
Belgium and Bulgaria come in second in terms of the number of interim governments, with nine and eight governments respectively. They are followed by Finland and Austria, with seven governments each.
However, Belgium is distinguished by having the longest interim government among all the countries studied, where the third Yves Leterme government served as a caretaker government for approximately a year and a half (541 days) between 2010 and 2011.
