Ukrainian sovereignty referendum, 1991

Voter invitation

The Ukrainian sovereignty referendum was conducted on March 17, 1991, as part of the first and only Soviet Union referendum. Throughout the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, voters were asked two questions, with an additional question attached to the ballot in the historical region of Galicia which includes the Ukrainian provinces of Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, and Ternopil.

The referendum followed the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine by the republic's parliament on July 16, 1990.[1] In December 1991, Ukraine held its independence referendum, where 92.3 percent of the voters approved the August 24 declaration of independence.[2]

Republic-wide

Throughout the entire Soviet Union, citizens were first asked:

"Do you consider necessary the preservation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics in which the rights and freedom of an individual of any nationality will be fully guaranteed?"[3]
Republic For Against Invalid
votes		 Total
votes		 Registered
voters		 Turnout
Votes % Votes %
 Ukrainian SSR22,110,89971.488,820,08928.52583,25631,514,24437,732,17883.52

A boycott campaign reduced the against votes in Western Ukraine.[4] The Ukrainian SSR included an additional question for all of the republic's citizens; the voters were asked:

"Do you agree that Ukraine should be part of a Union of Soviet Sovereign States on the basis on the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine?"[5]
Republic For Against Invalid
votes		 Total
votes		 Registered
voters		 Turnout
Votes % Votes %
 Ukrainian SSR25,224,68781.7  5,655,70118.3  584,70331,465,09137,689,76783.5

Provincial

Location of Galicia in Ukraine
Main article: Galician referendum, 1991 on the Ukrainian Wikipedia

In the Galician provinces of Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, and Ternopil, voters were asked an additional question regarding the creation of an independent state of Ukraine:[6][7]

"Would you like Ukraine became an independent state, which can independently decide all questions of domestic and foreign policy, providing equal rights to citizens regardless of nationality and religious views?"

Provinces For Against
% %
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Lviv Oblast, Ternopil Oblast88.3[8]11.7

References

  1. ↑ How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy by Anders Åslund, Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2009, ISBN 978-0-88132-427-3 (page 21)
  2. ↑ Independence – over 90% vote yes in referendum; Kravchuk elected president of Ukraine, The Ukrainian Weekly (8 December 1991)
  3. ↑ Nohlen, D, Grotz, F & Hartmann, C (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p492 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
  4. ↑ Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith by Andrew Wilson, Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-521-57457-9 (page 127)
  5. ↑ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, pg. 1985 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  6. ↑ Dissolution: Sovereignty and the Breakup of the Soviet Union by Edward W. Walker, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, ISBN 0742524523 (134)
  7. ↑ The Ukrainian West: Culture and the Fate of Empire in Soviet Lviv by William Jay Risch, Harvard University Press, 2011, ISBN 0674050010, (page 4)
  8. ↑ Cleft Countries: Regional Political Divisions and Cultures in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Moldova (Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society 33) by Ivan Katchanovski, 2006, ISBN 389821558X (page 40)
Ukraine
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Ukraine
Constitution
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.