This is indeed normally the case.
To get the AI to go from knowing they aren't going to win the election to be host but voting for themselves anyway, you need to have earlier voted for them to be the host (in a situation in which they didn't already have the most votes)
For worlds leader, the only reliable way to get their votes even when they have no shot of winning is for some AI to have earlier eliminated them entirely from the game and then for you to liberate and bring them back into the game.
