George Washington
At the end of his second term, Washington retired for personal and political reasons, fatigued and disgusted with personal attacks, and to assure a truly contested presidential election could be held. He did not feel bound to a two-term limit, but his retirement ultimately set precedent. The two-term limit to the presidency was formalized with the 1951 adoption of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Washington is often credited with setting the principal of a two-term presidency, but it was Thomas Jefferson who first refused to run for a third term on political grounds.
President of the Palestinian National Authority
The 2005 Basic Law amendment fixes a four-year term for both President and Parliament, while the 2005 Elections Law (Art. 2) determines that both are elected simultaneously. But a half year before the laws were signed, President Arafat had died, and Mahmoud Abbas was elected President, whereas the old parliament remained in function. To synchronize both terms, the lawmakers chose to stick the Presidential elections on the elections of the second Legislative Council (Elections Law Art. 111). Contrary to the Elections Law, no Presidential elections took place but instead Abbas, elected in 2005, remained in function. Nathan Brown argued that it was, in theory, a single election held on two different dates. However, it is debatable whether Abbas' first term started in 2005 or in 2006, while he took the presidential oath in January 2005. Elections for the second Legislative Council were on 25 January 2006. According to the law, the four-year term of both President and Parliament would thus start at that date (2005 Elections Law, Art. 2).