The Labour party itself is divided on the issue, with leader Ed Miliband backing electoral reform while several senior figures such as Lord Prescott support the present first-past-the-post system.

The commission is funded by the author Sir Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer's disease, and by Bernard Lewis, founder of the River Island fashion chain, who backs reform.

Al-Tabtabaie declared that, "The names of supporters will be published in the newspapers for voters to know who backs reform and who doesn't."

And in West Bengal, where the Communists have held sway, they have largely backed reform.

Jon Huntsman, along with Newt Gingrich, are the only GOP candidates who have backed reform that would create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants under certain conditions.

In the convoluted logic of Japanese politics, the Prime Minister's effort to push ahead with bills that were destined to be killed by the opposition was interpreted by some as a cynical attempt to appear publicly to be backing reform while actually abandoning it.

The company has supported teacher education and adult literacy, backed reform in elementary and secondary schools and helped minority students go to college.

Mr. Mitchell simultaneously began negotiations with John Chafee, the Rhode Island Republican who heads a bipartisan coalition that backs incremental reform.

A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the primary architects of the Reform Act 1832.

Mr. Miller, to his credit, now backs serious reform.