istoryworld
Events relating to democracy
Jacques Chirac, leader of a recently formed neo-Gaullist party, is elected mayor of Paris
An Islamic revolution forces the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to flee from Iran
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerges in India from previous Hindu nationalist groups and wins the first of several general ellections in 1996
Lech Walesa is elected chairman of the newly formed Polish trade union movement Solidarnośc (Solidarity)
The SDP hives off from Britain's Labour party – and seven years later merges with the Liberals to form the Liberal Democrats
Republican activist Gerry Adams is elected president of Sinn Fein
Civilian rule is restored in Brazil after Tancredo Neves and Jose Sarney are elected president and vice-president
With the return of democracy to Bolivia, the 77-year-old Paz Estenssoro is once again elected president
Corazón Aquino, widow of the assassinated Benigno Aquino, stands against Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines presidential election
Mugabe and Nkomo merge their two parties as ZANU-PF, making Zimbabwe effectively a one-party state
A new party, the National League for Democracy, is formed in Burma with Aung San Suu Kyi soon becoming its leader
The Liberals and the SDP merge in Britain to form a single political party, the Liberal Democrats
Aung San Suu Kyi returns to Burma from England, to look after her dying mother
Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner is toppled by Andrés Rodríguez, who restores democracy to the country
Students, teachers and workers gather in large numbers in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to demand democratic reform
Uruguay enjoys the first entirely free election since the years of military dictatorship
Elections in Poland bring Solidarnośc nation-wide success, and the party is soon at the head of a coalition government
Before the coming election the military junta in Burma places democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest
With the fall of Pinochet, Chile returns eagerly to democracy - electing a Christian Democrat, Patricio Aylwin, as president
Alexander Dubcek is Speaker of Parliament and Václav Havel is President in the new democratic government of Czechoslovakia
The Sandinistas lose the Nicaraguan presidential election, with Daniel Ortega beaten into second place by Violeta Chamorro
The aged president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, wins the Ivory Coast's first democratic elections
Aung San Suu Kyi's party wins an overwhelming victory in Burma's general election but the military refuse to hand over power
Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi transforms Inkatha into a political party, the Inkatha Freedom Party
Mary Robinson is elected president of the republic of Ireland, the first woman to hold the post
