Items19The creator’s order
- 1
Ichikawa FusaeBorn 15 May 1893Ichikawa campaigned for Japanese women's suffrage from the 1920s; women first voted in April 1946, electing 39 women to the Diet. She later served five terms in the House of Councillors as an independent, running low-cost "clean" campaigns that challenged money politics.0i - 2
B. R. AmbedkarBorn 14 Apr 1891As chair of the drafting committee, Ambedkar defended universal adult suffrage in India's 1950 constitution, a bold choice in a largely illiterate country, together with reserved legislative seats for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Those reservations remain in force and debated today; his earlier…0 - 3
Kanshi RamBorn 15 Mar 1934Kanshi Ram turned reserved seats into independent Dalit political power, founding the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984. Within a decade it was winning control of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, with Mayawati becoming chief minister in 1995, though critics argue the party later centred on one…0i - 4
P. V. Narasimha RaoBorn 28 Jun 1921Rao's government passed the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments in 1992, making elected village and town councils mandatory and reserving a third of their seats for women. It created over a million elected women representatives, although critics note that some councils are run in practice by…0i - 5
T. N. SeshanBorn 15 May 1932As India's Chief Election Commissioner from 1990 to 1996, Seshan enforced the model code of conduct against ministers, cracked down on booth capturing and pushed for photo identity cards for voters. He turned an administrative post into a check on parties, though his confrontational style led…0i - 6
Kim Young-samBorn 20 Dec 1927South Korea's first civilian president in three decades restored elected local government, holding the first full local elections since 1961 in 1995, and introduced real-name financial transactions against political slush funds. His government prosecuted former presidents Chun and Roh, though his…0i - 7
Kim Dae-jungBorn 6 Jan 1924Kim survived kidnapping and a death sentence as an opposition leader, and his 1997 election was the first time South Korea's opposition won the presidency. In office he set up the National Human Rights Commission, an independent check that remains; critics question the payments linked to his 2000…0i - 8
Corazon AquinoBorn 25 Jan 1933After the 1986 People Power revolt, Aquino's government wrote the 1987 constitution, which limited presidents to one term and created a party-list system meant to give marginalised sectors seats in Congress. The party-list has since been captured partly by established interests, and land reform…0i - 9
Jesse RobredoBorn 27 May 1958As mayor of Naga City from 1988, Robredo created the Naga City People's Council, giving accredited civic groups seats and votes on city committees, and published budgets and service standards for residents. As interior secretary he pushed the "full disclosure" policy for local government spending…0i - 10
Chiang Ching-kuoBorn 27 Apr 1910A reform from above: Taiwan's president, son of Chiang Kai-shek, tolerated the founding of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party in 1986 and lifted martial law in 1987 after 38 years. He had earlier run the security services, and the political prisoners and White Terror of that era are part…0i
