Commonwealth Chair-in-Office


The Commonwealth Chair-in-Office is the Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth of Nations, and is one of the main leadership positions in the Commonwealth. It is held by the host chairperson of the previous Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and is maintained until the next CHOGM.
The primary responsibility of the Chair-in-Office is to host the CHOGM, but their roles can be expanded. For example, after the 2002 CHOGM, the incumbent, previous, and next Chairmen-in-Office formed a troika in an attempt to resolve the ongoing dispute over Zimbabwe's membership of the Commonwealth.
The position was created after the 1999 CHOGM, with Thabo Mbeki becoming the first Chair-in-Office. However, Mbeki did very little to develop the position, leaving it virtually vacant until the next CHOGM in 2002, when the troika was created. Even after John Howard became Chair, the troika's first meeting was in London, in the presence of the Commonwealth Secretary-General. The third Chair, Olusegun Obasanjo, did more to invigorate the role of the position after taking over in 2003.
Since the assumption of the role at the 2009 CHOGM, representatives from Trinidad and Tobago, including the Prime Ministers, have attended Commonwealth meetings, including 2011 Commonwealth Day celebrations where Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the first woman to chair the Commonwealth, gave the keynote address. Sri Lanka was due to host the Commonwealth Economic Forum in 2011 but it was held instead in Perth, Australia due to accusations of alleged war crimes committed during the Sri Lankan Civil War.
As Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard succeeded Persad-Bissessar as the second female Chair at the 2011 CHOGM. Julia Gillard was in-turn succeeded by Kevin Rudd after she resigned as Prime Minister of Australia on 27 June 2013. Rudd went on to lose the Australian federal election in September 2013, and consequently was succeeded as CCiO by the new prime minister Tony Abbott. Abbott remained in the position until Commonwealth leaders met for the 23rd time on 15 November 2013, where he was succeeded by the President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was succeeded by Maithripala Sirisena in 2015.

List of Chairs-in-Office

Elizabeth II (1999–present)

The current head, since 1952, is Queen Elizabeth II.
#NameCountryTitleCHOGMStartEnd
1Thabo Mbeki South AfricaPresident199912 November 19992 March 2002
2John Howard AustraliaPrime Minister20022 March 20025 December 2003
3Olusegun Obasanjo NigeriaPresident20035 December 200325 November 2005
4Lawrence Gonzi MaltaPrime Minister200525 November 200523 November 2007
5Yoweri Museveni UgandaPresident200723 November 200727 November 2009
6Patrick Manning Trinidad and TobagoPrime Minister200927 November 200925 May 2010
7Kamla Persad-Bissessar Trinidad and TobagoPrime MinisterNone26 May 201028 October 2011
8Julia Gillard AustraliaPrime Minister201128 October 201127 June 2013
9Kevin Rudd AustraliaPrime MinisterNone27 June 201318 September 2013
10Tony Abbott AustraliaPrime MinisterNone18 September 201315 November 2013
11Mahinda Rajapaksa Sri LankaPresident201315 November 20139 January 2015
12Maithripala Sirisena Sri LankaPresidentNone9 January 201527 November 2015
13Joseph Muscat MaltaPrime Minister201527 November 201519 April 2018
14Theresa May United KingdomPrime Minister201819 April 201824 July 2019
15Boris Johnson United KingdomPrime MinisterNone24 July 2019Incumbent

Footnotes