NewsTracker Answers for week of Oct. 19, 2020

Q: The presidents of Guinea and Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) are running for third terms this month in spite of limits set by the constitutions of their West African nations. Where is West Africa?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The two men – 82 and 78 years old – have both held power for a decade. The president of a neighboring nation was ousted in an August coup. Which nation is on Guinea's northeastern border and Ivory Coast's northern border?

A. Liberia

B. Mali

C. Nigeria

D. Togo

B. Mutinous soldiers forced the nation’s leader to resign after seven years as president of Mali. Mali has been fighting al-Qaeda and the Islamic State rebels, and some analysts fear Guinea and Ivory Coast could be vulnerable to Islamist insurgents.

Q: Many of the world’s autocratic leaders have tried to become “president for life.” Which nation ended a 10-year term limit for its president in 2018?

A. China

B. Brazil

C. Nicaragua

D. Russia

A. In March 2018, China’s Communist Party approved the removal of the two-term limit on the presidency, effectively allowing President Xi Jinping to remain in power for life. In recent years, leaders in Brazil, Nicaragua and Russia pursued various constitutional changes to keep power.

Q: Protesters in Belarus have been demanding the ouster of an autocratic ruler who has ruled the nation since 1994. Where is Belarus?

A. Africa

B. Asia

C. Europe

D. South America

C. Alexander Lukashenko has been able to rule the Eastern European nation through votes to extend his presidential term and then end the constitutional limit on presidential terms. The Belarusian protesters say Lukashenko manipulated an Aug. 9th election that gave him a sixth term as president.

Q: The president of the United States is limited to being elected to two four-year terms by ...

A. The Constitution

B. A federal law

C. A Supreme Court ruling

D. The 22nd Amendment

D. After Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first president to win a third term in 1940 and a fourth term in 1944, Congress approved the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1947. It was ratified by two-thirds of the states and the term limit took effect in 1951.