The French Republic had Directors as joint chiefs of state in 1795-1799.
Why do you say that? The French Directors were supposed to be a temporary solution for a time of crisis, five people with essentially joint dictatorial powers, and regardless, they appeared well before the traditional liberal republic was popularised, and so the Directors are now a footnote, instead of the origin of the most generalised term for "head of state".
How about some Arabic, Turk or Persian alternatives?
- Rais
- Elected Sahib
I think everyone's missing the obvious alternative. There is a word which is used for something which is temporarily of the highest rank, but is not permanently so. It's used in cards, but metaphorically elsewhere and could easily be adopted.
The ATL term for president would be: Trump.
No. It was in the 1795 Constitution, as one of the more important institutions of the Republic. Certainly not a temporary solution and certainly not having joint dictatorial powers. Are confusing the Directors with the Comittee of Public Safety ?