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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? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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A sovereignty referendum was held in the Ukrainian SSR on 17 March 1991 as part of a USSR-wide referendum. Voters were asked two questions on reforming the Soviet Union into a confederation of sovereign states. Most voters supported the proposal, although in the pro-independence oblasts of Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Ternopil, voters opted for independence as part of an additional question.
The referendum followed the Declaration of State Sovereignty by the republic's parliament on 16 July 1990 as sovereign republic within the Soviet Union in line with the results. [1]
In August 1991, with the New Union Treaty having not been adopted by the Soviet Union, a withdrawal from the USSR was proposed. The overwhelming majority of voters backed the idea in an independence referendum in December, approving a declaration of independence. [2]
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]
A boycott campaign reduced the against votes in Western Ukraine. [4]
Choice | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
For | 22,110,899 | 71.48 | |
Against | 8,820,089 | 28.52 | |
Total | 30,930,988 | 100.00 | |
Valid votes | 30,930,988 | 98.15 | |
Invalid/blank votes | 583,256 | 1.85 | |
Total votes | 31,514,244 | 100.00 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 37,732,178 | 83.52 |
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]
Choice | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
For | 25,224,687 | 81.69 | |
Against | 5,655,701 | 18.31 | |
Total | 30,880,388 | 100.00 | |
Valid votes | 30,880,388 | 98.14 | |
Invalid/blank votes | 584,703 | 1.86 | |
Total votes | 31,465,091 | 100.00 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 37,689,767 | 83.48 |
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]
Do you want the Ukraine to become an independent state that by itself decides all questions of domestic and foreign policy, secures equal rights of citizens regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation? [8]
Choice | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
For | 88.3 | ||
Against | 11.7 | ||
Total | |||
Source: Katchanovski [9] |
Ternopil Oblast, also referred to as Ternopilshchyna or Ternopillia, is an oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret, a tributary of the Dniester. Population: 1,021,713.
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is the ultimate law of Belarus. The Constitution is composed of a preamble and nine sections divided into 146 articles.
Western Ukraine or West Ukraine refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions (oblasts) of Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Ternopil and Zakarpattia are typically included. In addition, Volyn and Rivne oblasts are also usually included. It is less common to include Zhytomyr Oblast and Podolia. It includes several historical regions such as Carpathian Ruthenia, Halychyna including Pokuttia, most of Volhynia, northern Bukovina and the Hertsa region, and Podolia. Western Ukraine is sometimes considered to include areas of eastern Volhynia, Podolia, and the small northern portion of Bessarabia.
A referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence was held in Ukraine on 1 December 1991. An overwhelming majority of 92% of voters approved the declaration of independence made by the Verkhovna Rada on 24 August 1991.
The Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine was adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR on 24 August 1991.
The Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine was adopted on July 16, 1990, by the recently elected parliament of Ukrainian SSR by a vote of 355 for and four against.
The New Union Treaty was a draft treaty that would have replaced the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to salvage and reform the USSR. A ceremony of the Russian SFSR signing the treaty was scheduled for 20 August 1991 but was prevented by the August Coup a day earlier.
The Declaration "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia" was adopted on 4 May 1990 by the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR in which Latvia declared independence from the Soviet Union. The Declaration stated that, although Latvia had de facto lost its independence in 1940, when it was annexed by the Soviet Union, the country had de jure remained a sovereign country as the annexation had been unconstitutional and against the will of the Latvian people.
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A referendum on the future of the Soviet Union was held on 17 March 1991 across the Soviet Union. It was the only national referendum in the history of the Soviet Union, although it was boycotted by authorities in six of the fifteen Soviet republics.
An independence referendum was held in the Armenia SSR on 21 September 1991 to determine whether to secede from the Soviet Union. It followed a declaration of independence on 23 August 1990. 99.5% of voters voted in favour, with a turnout of 95%. The country officially became an independent state on 23 September 1991.
An independence referendum was held in the Turkmen SSR on 26 October 1991.
An independence referendum was held in the Republic of Uzbekistan on 29 December 1991, alongside presidential elections. The result was 98% of voters in favour, with a turnout of 94%.
An independence referendum was held in the Estonian SSR on 3 March 1991, alongside a similar referendum in the Latvian SSR the same day. It was approved by 78% of voters with an 83% turnout. Independence was restored by the Estonian Supreme Council on the night of 20 August.
An independence referendum was held in the Latvian SSR on 3 March 1991, alongside a similar referendum in the Estonian SSR the same day. Known as the "Popular Survey about the independence of the Republic of Latvia", voters were asked "are you in favour of a democratic and independent Republic of Latvia". It was approved by 74.9% of voters, with a turnout of 87.6%. Latvian Republic civilians registered in Soviet Army units also had the right to vote in this poll.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration № 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. It also brought an end to the Soviet Union's federal government and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's effort to reform the Soviet political and economic system in an attempt to stop a period of political stalemate and economic backslide. The Soviet Union had experienced internal stagnation and ethnic separatism. Although highly centralized until its final years, the country was made up of 15 top-level republics that served as the homelands for different ethnicities. By late 1991, amid a catastrophic political crisis, with several republics already departing the Union and Gorbachev continuing the waning of centralized power, the leaders of three of its founding members, the Russian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian SSRs, declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed. Eight more republics joined their declaration shortly thereafter. Gorbachev resigned on 25 December 1991 and what was left of the Soviet parliament voted to dissolve the union.
A referendum on autonomy was held in the Crimean Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR on 20 January 1991, two months before the 1991 All-Union referendum. Voters were asked whether they wanted to re-establish the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which had been abolished in 1945. The proposal was approved by 94% of voters.
The 1991 Transcarpathian general regional referendum took place on December 1, 1991, on the same day as the Ukrainian independence referendum and the first presidential elections in Ukraine. The question of the referendum was "On the granting Transcarpathian region status of an autonomous province within Ukraine."
The Revolution on Granite was a student-led protest campaign that took place primarily in Kyiv and Western Ukraine in October 1990. Ukraine was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union until its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991. The protest was held from 2 October until 17 October 1990. One of the students' demands was the resignation of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR Vitaliy Masol. On the last day of the protests, Masol was forced to resign and was replaced by Vitold Fokin.
From the formal establishment of the People's Movement of Ukraine on 1 July 1989 to the formalisation of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine via referendum on 1 December 1991, a non-violent protest movement worked to achieve Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union. Led by Soviet dissident Viacheslav Chornovil, the protests began as a series of strikes in the Donbas that led to the removal of longtime communist leader Volodymyr Shcherbytsky. Later, the protests grew in size and scope, leading to a human chain across the country and widespread student protests against the falsification of the 1990 Ukrainian Supreme Soviet election. The protests were ultimately successful, leading to the independence of Ukraine amidst the broader dissolution of the Soviet Union.