Julius Nyerere

Nyerere stepped down as Tanzania's president in 1985 while still popular and handed over to Ali Hassan Mwinyi, then gave up the ruling party's chairmanship in 1990. It was a transfer within a one-party system, not a democratic election, but it established that Tanzanian presidents retire on schedule. He later backed the return of multi-party politics in 1992. The ruling party has never lost power since, and the 2025 election was marred by deadly unrest, so the precedent is about orderly succession rather than competition.