1991 Ukrainian independence referendum

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1991 Ukrainian independence referendum
Flag of Ukraine (Soviet shades).svg
1 December 1991

Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?
Ukrainian independence referendum result.jpg
The result of the referendum in a bulletin.
Results
Choice
Votes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svgYes28,804,07192.26%
Light brown x.svgNo2,417,5547.74%
Valid votes31,221,62597.90%
Invalid or blank votes670,1172.10%
Total votes31,891,742100.00%
Registered voters/turnout37,885,55584.18%

1991 Ukrainian independence referendum results.svg
Results by region
Yes:

A referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence was held in Ukraine on 1 December 1991. [1] An overwhelming majority of 93% of voters approved the declaration of independence made by the Verkhovna Rada on 24 August 1991. Voters were asked "Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?" [2] The text of the Declaration was included as a preamble to the question. The referendum was called by the Parliament of Ukraine to confirm the Act of Independence, which was adopted by the Parliament on 24 August 1991. [3] Citizens of Ukraine expressed overwhelming support for independence. In the referendum, 31,891,742 registered voters (or 84.18% of the electorate) took part, and among them 28,804,071 (or 92.3%) voted "Yes". [2]

Contents

On the same day, a presidential election took place. In the month up to the presidential election, all six candidates campaigned across Ukraine in favour of independence from the Soviet Union, and a "Yes" vote in the referendum. Leonid Kravchuk, the parliament chairman and de facto head of state, was elected to serve as the first President of Ukraine. [4]

From 2 December 1991 onwards, Ukraine was globally recognized by other countries as an independent state. [5] [6] [7] Also on 2 December, the President of the Russian SFSR Boris Yeltsin recognized Ukraine as independent. [8] [9] [10] [11] In a telegram of congratulations Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sent to Kravchuk soon after the referendum, Gorbachev included his hopes for close Ukrainian cooperation and understanding in "the formation of a union of sovereign states". [12]

Ukraine was the second-most powerful republic in the Soviet Union both economically and politically (behind Russia), and its secession ended any realistic chance of Gorbachev keeping the USSR together. By December 1991 all former Soviet Republics except the RSFSR [13] and the Kazakh SSR [13] had formally seceded from the Union. [14] A week after his election, Kravchuk joined with Yeltsin and Belarusian leader Stanislav Shushkevich in signing the Belavezha Accords, which declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. [15] The USSR officially dissolved on 26 December. [16]

Results

The ballot paper used in the referendum, with the text of the Declaration of Independence printed on it. Buleten 1991-12.jpg
The ballot paper used in the referendum, with the text of the Declaration of Independence printed on it.

Ukrainian media had converted en masse to the independence ideal.

Polls showed 63% support for the "Yes" campaign in September 1991; that grew to 77% in the first week of October 1991 and 88% by mid-November 1991. [17]

55% of the ethnic Russians in Ukraine voted for independence. [18]

ChoiceVotes%
For28,804,07192.26
Against2,417,5547.74
Total31,221,625100.00
Valid votes31,221,62597.90
Invalid/blank votes670,1172.10
Total votes31,891,742100.00
Registered voters/turnout37,885,55584.18
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

By region

The Act of Independence was supported by a majority of participating voters in each of the 27 administrative regions of Ukraine: 24 oblasts, 1 autonomous republic, and 2 special municipalities (Kyiv City and Sevastopol City). [4] Voter turnout was lowest in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. [17] The six regions with the lowest percentage of "yes" votes were Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Odesa Oblasts, Crimea, and Sevastopol; all of those regions still had a majority of registered voters marking their ballots "yes", except for Crimea and Sevastopol.

No-vote in % per Ukrainian Oblast Ukr Referendum 1991 No.png
No-vote in % per Ukrainian Oblast
Subdivision Percentage voting for independence
Of votes cast [4] Of electorate [19]
Crimean ASSR 54.1937 [20]
Cherkasy Oblast 96.0387
Chernihiv Oblast 93.7485
Chernivtsi Oblast 92.7881
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast 90.3674
Donetsk Oblast 83.9064
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast 98.4294
Kharkiv Oblast 86.3365
Kherson Oblast 90.1375
Khmelnytskyi Oblast 96.3090
Kyiv Oblast 95.5284
Kirovohrad Oblast 93.8883
Luhansk Oblast 83.8668
Lviv Oblast 97.4693
Mykolayiv Oblast 89.4575
Odesa Oblast 85.3864
Poltava Oblast 94.9387
Rivne Oblast 95.9689
Sumy Oblast 92.6182
Ternopil Oblast 98.6796
Vinnytsia Oblast 95.4387
Volyn Oblast 96.3290
Zakarpattia Oblast 92.5977
Zaporizhzhia Oblast 90.6673
Zhytomyr Oblast 95.0686
Kyiv City 92.8775
Sevastopol City 57.0736 [20]
National Total90.3276 [21]

See also

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