istoryworld
Events relating to democracy
Solidarnośc leader Lech Walesa wins Poland's first free presidential election
The incumbent president, Mathieu Kérékou, loses in Benin's first democratic election
Former Communist Boris Yeltsin is elected leader of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic
Aung San Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous fight for democracy in Burma
Multiparty elections in Zambia result in a massive defeat for the long-serving president, Kenneth Kaunda
A new party, the Islamic Salvation Front, seems certain to win the Algerian election – until the army intervenes
After a single term as president of the Philippines, Corazon Aquino returns to private life
Betty Boothroyd, a Labour MP, becomes the first woman Speaker of Britain's House of Commons
Apartheid ends in South Africa, after two thirds of white voters vote for its abolition in a referendum
Guinea's first democratic election is won by the incumbent president, Lansana Conté
The separatist Bloc Québecois becomes (until losing seats in the next election) the official Opposition in the Canadian parliament
Media magnate Silvio Berlusconi founds Forza Italia as a new centre-right political party in Italy
South Africa's first non-racial election is won by the ANC with 63% of the vote
Hastings Banda, president since independence in 1964, is defeated in Malawi's first multiparty elections
President Clinton's bill to provide health insurance for all US citizens is defeated in Congress
Tony Blair wins the leadership of the Labour party, and sets about establishing what he calls New Labour
Ethiopians have their first experience of democracy in a free presidential election, won by Meles Zenawi
Ken Saro-Wiwa, playwright and pro-democracy campaigner in Nigeria, is among a group hanged by the ruling junta
Mugabe is elected unopposed for a new six-year term as president
The guerrilla groups in Guatemala sign a treaty which provides for them to become a recognized political party
In Canada's general election the Bloc Québecois lose their position as official opposition to the Liberal government
Mexico's ruling party, the PRI, loses control of the lower house for the first time in nearly seventy years
In referenda held by the new Labour government, Scotland votes conclusively for devolution but Wales is lukewarm
A proposed referendum on northern Irish issues is accepted by all the relevant political parties in what becomes known as the Good Friday Agreement
In the referendum to endorse the Good Friday Agreement, the terms are accepted by majorities in both the republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
