President of Palau

The President of the Republic of Palau is the head of government and head of state of Palau. The president is directly elected to a four-year term, and can be reelected once.

President of the Republic of Palau
Incumbent Surangel Whipps Jr. since 21 January 2021
Term length	Four years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Haruo Remeliik
Formation	2 March 1981
Deputy	Vice President of Palau
Website	http://palaugov.pw/

List

All officeholders are political independents.

No.	Name[1] (Birth–Death)	Picture	Took Office	Left Office	Election	Vice President[2]
1	Haruo Remeliik (1932–1985)		2 March 1981	30 June 1985 (Assassinated)	1980 (31.2%)	Alfonso Oiterong (1924–1994)
					1984 (50.9%)
2	Thomas Remengesau Sr. (1929–2019)		30 June 1985	2 July 1985	—	Vacant
3	Alfonso Oiterong (1924–1994)		2 July 1985	25 October 1985	—
4	Lazarus Salii (1937–1988)		25 October 1985	20 August 1988 (Suicide)	1985 (53.9%)	Thomas Remengesau Sr. (1929–2019)
2	Thomas Remengesau Sr. (1929–2019)		20 August 1988	1 January 1989	—	Vacant
5	Ngiratkel Etpison (1924–1997)		1 January 1989	1 January 1993	1988 (26.3%)	Kuniwo Nakamura (1943–)
6	Kuniwo Nakamura (1943–2020)		1 January 1993	1 January 2001	1992 (37.3%) (first round) (50.7%) (second round)	Thomas Remengesau Jr. (1956–)
					1996 (52.7%) (first round) (64.3%) (second round)
7	Thomas Remengesau Jr. (1956–)		1 January 2001	15 January 2009	2000 (52%)	Sandra Pierantozzi (1951–) 19 January 2001– 1 January 2005
					2004 (66.31%)	Elias Camsek Chin (1949–) 1 January 2005– 15 January 2009
8	Johnson Toribiong (1946–)		15 January 2009	17 January 2013	2008 (51.12%)	Kerai Mariur (1951–)
9	Thomas Remengesau Jr. (1956–)		17 January 2013	21 January 2021	2012 (49.08%)	Antonio Bells (1948–) 17 January 2013– 19 January 2017[3]
					2016 (51.3%)	Raynold Oilouch (1989–) 19 January 2017–21 January 2021[4]
10	Surangel Whipps Jr. (1968–)		21 January 2021	Incumbent	2020 (56.71%)	Uduch Sengebau Senior (1948–) 21 January 2021–present