Match List-I with List-II and choose the correct answer using the codes given below the lists : List-I (Newly Elected Head of the State) A. Gitanas Nauseda B. Luong Cuong C. Halla Tomasdottir D. Jose Raul Mulino List-II (Country) 1. Iceland 2. Vietnam 3. Lithuania 4. Panama Codes :
- (a)A-4, B-1, C-2, D-3
- (b)A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4
- (c)A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4
- (d)A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4
Correct — C, A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4. Take the four names one at a time, as of the December 2024 exam. Gitanas Nauseda is the President of LITHUANIA (List-II 3) — an economist and former banker who has held the office since 12 July 2019 and who won a second term in the run-off of 26 May 2024. Luong Cuong is the President of VIETNAM (List-II 2) — a career army general elected to the presidency by the 15th National Assembly on 21 October 2024, with all 440 attending deputies voting in favour, and inaugurated the following day; he succeeded To Lam, who had given up the presidency after becoming General Secretary of the Communist Party. Halla Tomasdottir is the President of ICELAND (List-II 1) — a businesswoman elected on 1 June 2024 with 34.1 per cent of the vote, who took office from Gudni Th. Johannesson on 1 August 2024 and is Iceland's second woman president after Vigdis Finnbogadottir. Jose Raul Mulino is the President of PANAMA (List-II 4) — a lawyer and former security minister who won the election of 5 May 2024 with about 34 per cent of the vote and was sworn in on 1 July 2024. That gives A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4, which is option (c). One honest present-day note for anyone reading this after the exam: of the four, only Luong Cuong has since left office — his presidential term expired on 7 April 2026 and To Lam was elected to a full term in his place. Nauseda, Halla Tomasdottir and Mulino are all still in office. The answer to the question is fixed by what was true in December 2024.
- (a)A-4, B-1, C-2, D-3 — Every single pair is wrong — it reads as though the four countries have been rotated one place. It sends Nauseda to Panama, Luong Cuong to Iceland, Halla Tomasdottir to Vietnam and Mulino to Lithuania. Even a candidate who recognises only one name can eliminate this option outright, which is why in a four-item matching question you should always start from the name you are surest of.
- (b)A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4 — This is the near-miss, and the option most candidates who half-know the answer will pick. It gets the two easier pairs right — Nauseda to Lithuania and Mulino to Panama — but swaps the middle two, sending Luong Cuong to Iceland and Halla Tomasdottir to Vietnam. The names are the giveaway: Luong Cuong is Vietnamese, and Tomasdottir is an Icelandic patronymic ('daughter of Tomas'), the form Icelandic naming still uses instead of family surnames.
- (d)A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4 — Only the Panama pair survives. It puts Nauseda in Vietnam, Luong Cuong in Iceland and Halla Tomasdottir in Lithuania. Nauseda is a Lithuanian name and he has been Lithuania's president since 2019, so A-2 is the first thing to strike out.
The year 2024 was the biggest election year in recorded history — more than sixty countries and roughly half the world's population went to the polls — and state commissions leaned on it heavily for current affairs. The examinable unit in such questions is small: a name, a country, and the year the person took charge. It helps to know which office you are being asked about. In Vietnam the President is the head of state, but real authority rests with the General Secretary of the Communist Party. In Iceland the President is head of state with a largely ceremonial role, while the Prime Minister governs. In Lithuania the President is directly elected and holds substantive powers over foreign policy and defence, sharing the executive with a Prime Minister. Panama has no prime minister at all — the President is both head of state and head of government.
Solve a four-name matching question by anchoring, not by recall of all four. Two of these names carry their country in their spelling. 'Luong Cuong' is unmistakably Vietnamese. 'Halla Tomasdottir' ends in -dottir, the Icelandic patronymic that survives because Iceland uses parentage-based names rather than inherited surnames. Fix those two and options (a), (b) and (d) all fall, leaving (c) — which is why this item is far easier than it looks. Two footnotes worth carrying. First, the list is captioned 'Newly Elected Head of the State', but Nauseda was RE-elected in 2024; he had been president since 2019. UPPSC uses the phrase loosely to mean 'won an election in 2024', so do not reject his pairing on that ground. Second, anchor the whole item to the exam date of 22 December 2024 — current-affairs matching questions are frozen at the moment the paper was set, and later changes of office-holder do not change the marked answer.
- Gitanas Nauseda — President of Lithuania since 12 July 2019; re-elected in the run-off of 26 May 2024. An economist and former banker; still in office in 2026.
- Luong Cuong — elected President of Vietnam by the 15th National Assembly on 21 October 2024 with all 440 attending deputies in favour, inaugurated the next day, succeeding To Lam. A career general of the Vietnam People's Army. His term expired on 7 April 2026, when To Lam was elected to a full term.
- Halla Tomasdottir — elected President of Iceland on 1 June 2024 with 34.1 per cent of the vote; took office on 1 August 2024, succeeding Gudni Th. Johannesson. She is Iceland's second woman president, after Vigdis Finnbogadottir.
- Jose Raul Mulino — won Panama's presidential election of 5 May 2024 with about 34 per cent of the vote and was sworn in on 1 July 2024. Panama has no prime minister, so its President is both head of state and head of government.
- In Vietnam the President is head of state while executive dominance lies with the General Secretary of the Communist Party; in Iceland the President is a largely ceremonial head of state and the Prime Minister governs.
A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4 — option (c). The near-miss option (b) keeps Lithuania and Panama right but swaps Vietnam and Iceland, so read the names themselves: 'Luong Cuong' is Vietnamese and '-dottir' is an Icelandic patronymic.
- Trying to recall all four pairs at once. In matching questions, lock the one or two you are certain of and let the codes eliminate the rest — here, fixing Vietnam and Iceland alone leaves only option (c).
- Being thrown by the caption 'Newly Elected Head of the State'. Nauseda was re-elected, not newly elected; the commission simply means an election held in 2024.
- Updating a current-affairs question to today. This paper was set for 22 December 2024, and the marked answer belongs to that date — Luong Cuong's term has since ended, but that does not touch the key.
UPPSC asks world leaders as a straight four-way person-to-country match or as 'who was recently appointed/elected as X'; UPSC now avoids naming individuals and instead tests the office — the constitutional position of a head of state, or a country's political system — so learn the name for UPPSC and the system for UPSC.
Consider the following statements: 1. Kofi Annan – the UN Secretary-General is from Nigeria. 2. Kofi Annan is the first UN Secretary-General to be appointed from the ranks of the United Nations staff. 3. Kofi Annan was appointed for a second term to the office of the UN Secretary-General. Which of the statements given above are correct?
- (a) 1, 2 and 3
- (b) 1 and 2 only
- (c) 2 and 3 only
- (d) 1 and 3 only
Answer(c) 2 and 3 only
The same skill, tested by UPSC in its own style — the item turns on attaching a world figure to the right country (Kofi Annan was Ghanaian, not Nigerian), exactly the check this UPPSC matching question demands four times over.
The Prime Minister of which one of the following countries was assassinated in the year 2003?
- (a) Czech Republic
- (b) Romania
- (c) Serbia
- (d) Slovenia
Answer(c) Serbia
An older UPSC item from the era when the paper still asked about named world leaders — the same leader-to-country recall, and a reminder that this genre survives in state PCS papers long after UPSC dropped it.
Who among the following has been named as the Prime Minister of New Zealand in January, 2023?
- (a) Jacinda Ardern
- (b) Cindy Kiro
- (c) Carmel Sepuloni
- (d) Chris Hipkins
Answer(d) Chris Hipkins
UPPSC asking the identical thing a year earlier — who took charge of a foreign country in the exam year. The 2023 paper asked for one name; the 2024 paper asks for four at once, so the preparation is the same list, kept country-wise and updated through the year.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Halla Tomasdottir, who assumed office in August 2024, is the President of which country?
- (a)Norway
- (b)Iceland
- (c)Finland
- (d)Estonia
Answer(b) Iceland — Halla Tomasdottir was elected on 1 June 2024 and took office on 1 August 2024 as Iceland's seventh president and its second woman president, after Vigdis Finnbogadottir. Norway is a monarchy, so it has a king and no president.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In Vietnam, which one of the following offices is generally regarded as the most powerful position in the country's political system?
- (a)President of Vietnam
- (b)Prime Minister of Vietnam
- (c)General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam
- (d)Chairman of the National Assembly
Answer(c) General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam — the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister heads the government, but paramount authority in Vietnam's one-party system rests with the Party General Secretary. To Lam's move from the presidency to the General Secretaryship in 2024 is what opened the vacancy Luong Cuong filled.