These are some of the notable events relating to politics in 2009:
- January 17 - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls for an immediate ceasefire during the Gaza conflict. [1]
- January 20 - Inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States.
- June 2 - New Politics Party was formed in Thailand.
- June 4 - Change 2011 party was formed in Finland.
- July 3–5 - Global Lincoln, a conference on Abraham Lincoln at St Catherine's College, Oxford.
- October 1 - The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom begins operating.
- October 2 - The Republic of Ireland voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty.
- November 3 - Incumbent Democrat Luke Ravenstahl defeats both Franklin Dok Harris and Kevin Acklin in the Pittsburgh mayoral election, 2009.
- January 1 - Nizar Rayan, Palestinian (born 1959)
- January 1 - Helen Suzman, South African (born 1924)
- January 15 - Said Seyam, Palestinian (born 1957)
- January 25 - Mamadou Dia, Senegalese (born 1910)
- January 27 - R. Venkataraman, Indian (born 1910)
- February 27 - Manea Manescu, Romanian (born 1916)
- March 2 - João Bernardo Vieira, Guinea-Bissauan (born 1939)
- March 15 - Ron Silver, American (born 1946)
- March 20 - Abdellatif Filali, Moroccan (born 1928)
- March 28 - Janet Jagan, Guyanese (born 1920)
- March 31 - Raúl Alfonsín, Argentinian (born 1927)
- April 15 - Clement Freud, British (born 1924)
- April 21 - Jack Jones, British (born 1913)
- May 2 - Jack Kemp, American (born 1935)
- May 18 - Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan (born 1954)
- May 23 - Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean (born 1946)
- May 30 - Luís Cabral, Guinea-Bissauan (born 1931)
- May 30 - Ephraim Katzir, Israeli (born 1916)
- May 30 - Gaafar Nimeiri, Sudanese (born 1930)
- June 5 - Bernard Barker, American (born 1917)
- June 8 - Omar Bongo, Gabonese (born 1935)
- June 12 - Félix Malloum, Chadian (born 1932)
- June 17 - Ralf Dahrendorf, Anglo-German (born 1929)
- June 24 - Roméo LeBlanc, Canadian (born 1927)
- July 1 - Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan (born 1952)
- July 2 - Herbert G. Klein, American (born 1918)
- July 6 - Robert McNamara, American (born 1916)
- July 7 - Reader Harris, British (born 1913)
- July 17 - Meir Amit, Israeli (born 1921)
- July 26 - James E. King, American (born 1939)
- August 1 - Corazon Aquino, Filipina (born 1933)
- August 4 - Svend Auken, Danish (born 1943)
- August 6 - Savka Dabcevic-Kukar, Croatian (born 1923)
- August 11 - Nuala Fennell, Irish (born 1935)
- August 18 - Kim Dae-jung, South Korean (born 1925)
- August 22 - Adrien Zeller, French (born 1940)
- August 25 - Ted Kennedy, American (born 1932)
- September 2 - Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Indian (born 1949)
- September 28 - Guillermo Endara, Panamanian (born 1936)
- October 4 - Shoichi Nakagawa, Japanese (born 1953)
- October 16 - Robert William Davis, American (born 1932)
- October 17 - Jay W. Johnson, American (born 1943)
- October 20 - Clifford Hansen, American (born 1912)
- November 4 - William H. Avery, American (born 1911)
- November 13 - Bruce King, American (born 1924)
- November 15 - Pierre Harmel, Belgian (born 1911)
- November 20 - Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Pakistani (born 1931)
- November 20 - Celso Pitta, Brazilian (born 1946)
- November 22 - Ali Kordan, Iranian (born 1958)
- December 3 - Paula Hawkins, American (born 1927)
- December 5 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German (born 1926)
- December 9 - Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García, Guatemalan (born 1930)
- December 9 - Rodrigo Carazo Odio, Costa Rican (born 1926)
- December 16 - Yegor Gaidar, Russian (born 1956)
- December 16 - Manto Tshabalala-Msimang (born 1940)
- December 17 - Amin al-Hafiz, Syrian (born 1921)