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1991 Ukrainian independence referendum

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A referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence was held in Ukraine on 1 December 1991.[1] An overwhelming majority of 92% of voters approved the declaration of independence made by the Verkhovna Rada on 24 August 1991.

1991 Ukrainian independence referendum
1 December 1991
Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?
The result of the referendum in a bulletin.
Results
Choice
 Votes %
Yes 28,804,071 92.26%
No 2,417,554 7.74%
Valid votes 31,221,625 97.90%
Invalid or blank votes 670,117 2.10%
Total votes 31,891,742 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 37,885,555 84.18%
Results by region
Yes:

Voters were asked "Do you confirm 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]

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]

Experts point out that the most immediate event that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union was the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum. According to Brian D Taylor, in the aftermath of the 1991 Soviet coup attempt that failed, most of the republics adopted declarations of independence, the most important of which was that of Ukraine on 24 August. By the end of September, eight republics had declared independence: Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Tajikistan and Armenia. These declarations of independence were largely symbolic and did not mean withdrawal from the Union. Negotiations on the union continued for several months, but in the end, in the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum, more than 90 per cent of Ukrainians voted for independence. Almost all observers agreed that serious federal discussions were impossible without Ukraine's participation.[17] On 6 December, shortly after Ukraine's independence referendum, the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine adopted a new military oath pledging loyalty to Ukraine. On 13 December, Leonid Kravchuk proclaimed himself Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and declared that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would be formed from Soviet troops stationed in Ukraine.[17]

According to Mark Kramer, Boris Yeltsin often expressed his willingness to accept the independence of the Baltic states and Georgia and Moldova. But he wanted to preserve the Union. What deprived Boris Yeltsin of this option was the surge of independence sentiment in Ukraine after the 1991 Soviet coup attempt. The Ukrainian referendum on independence in 1991 resulted in an overwhelming vote for independence. For Yeltsin, the only way to preserve the Soviet Union was to use massive force against Ukraine.  However, Yeltsin chose not to do this and instead recognised the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[18]

According to Adrian Karatnycky, It may have been Russia and Boris Yeltsin who thwarted a coup and brought down the Soviet Communist Party, but it was Leonid Kravchuk and Ukraine that ultimately brought down the Soviet empire. Ukraine's rejection of Mikhail Gorbachev's Union Treaty led to the immediate collapse of the Soviet Union.[19]

According to Peter J. Potichnyj, Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev consistently sabotaged Ukraine's independence. On December 1, 1991, the results of the Ukrainian referendum showed that more than 90 percent of the electorate voted for independence. Because the referendum was conducted in an open and democratic manner, it convinced Russia and world leaders that the Soviet system was no longer viable or sustainable.[20]

According to Taras Kuzio, in the period between the declaration of independence in August 1991 and the independence referendum in December 1991, Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev tried to keep Ukraine within the Soviet Union. Yeltsin's intention was to keep Ukraine within the Soviet Union, but when the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum resulted in an overwhelming 90 per cent vote in favour, Yeltsin was unable to implement his plan to keep the country within the Soviet Union.[21]

According to Mark Kramer (2022), even after the failed coup of August 1991, Boris Yeltsin hoped to preserve the union linking Russia and Ukraine with Belarus, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian republics. By the autumn of 1991, however, it was clear that the majority of Ukrainians would vote for full independence on 1 December. Yeltsin realised that it would be impossible to maintain the Soviet Union after the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum, and eventually joined the Belovezha agreements and the Alma-Ata protocol.[22]

According to Laura Blaj, the Ukrainian Communist Party rejected the Soviet reforms of Gorbachev and Yeltsin. This was a decisive factor in Ukraine's overwhelmingly positive vote. The Communist conservatives were allied with Ukrainian nationalists, and the result of the Ukrainian referendum on December 1, 1991, led directly to the collapse of the Soviet Union.[23]

Results

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The ballot paper used in the referendum, with the text of the Declaration of Independence printed on it.
 
No-vote in % per Ukrainian Oblast

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.[24]

55% of the ethnic Russians in Ukraine voted for independence.[25]

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

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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.[24] 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.

Subdivision Percentage voting for independence
Of votes cast[4] Of electorate[26]
Crimean ASSR 54.19 37[27]
Cherkasy Oblast 96.03 87
Chernihiv Oblast 93.74 85
Chernivtsi Oblast 92.78 81
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast 90.36 74
Donetsk Oblast 83.90 64
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast 98.42 94
Kharkiv Oblast 86.33 65
Kherson Oblast 90.13 75
Khmelnytskyi Oblast 96.30 90
Kyiv Oblast 95.52 84
Kirovohrad Oblast 93.88 83
Luhansk Oblast 83.86 68
Lviv Oblast 97.46 93
Mykolayiv Oblast 89.45 75
Odesa Oblast 85.38 64
Poltava Oblast 94.93 87
Rivne Oblast 95.96 89
Sumy Oblast 92.61 82
Ternopil Oblast 98.67 96
Vinnytsia Oblast 95.43 87
Volyn Oblast 96.32 90
Zakarpattia Oblast 92.59 77
Zaporizhzhia Oblast 90.66 73
Zhytomyr Oblast 95.06 86
Kyiv City 92.87 75
Sevastopol City 57.07 36[27]
National Total 90.32 76[28]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, page 1976 ISBN 9783832956097
  2. ^ a b Nohlen & Stöver, p1985
  3. ^ Historic vote for independence Archived 2014-03-23 at the Wayback Machine, The Ukrainian Weekly (1 September 1991)
  4. ^ a b c Independence – over 90% vote yes in referendum; Kravchuk elected president of Ukraine Archived 2017-10-19 at the Wayback Machine, The Ukrainian Weekly (8 December 1991)
  5. ^ Ukraine and Russia: The Post-Soviet Transition by Roman Solchanyk, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000, ISBN 0742510182 (page 100)
  6. ^ Canadian Yearbook of International Law, Vol 30, 1992, University of British Columbia Press, 1993, ISBN 9780774804387 (page 371)
  7. ^ Russia, Ukraine, and the Breakup of the Soviet Union Archived 2024-08-20 at the Wayback Machine by Roman Szporluk, Hoover Institution Press, 2000, ISBN 0817995420 (page 355
  8. ^ Russia's Revolution from Above, 1985–2000: Reform, Transition, and Revolution in the Fall of the Soviet Communist Regime Archived 2024-08-20 at the Wayback Machine by Gordon M. Hahn, Transaction Publishers, 2001, ISBN 0765800497 (page 482)
  9. ^ A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Ukraine Archived 2009-02-04 at the Wayback Machine, Office of the Historian
  10. ^ The Limited Partnership: Building a Russian-US Security Community Archived 2024-08-20 at the Wayback Machine by James E. Goodby and Benoit Morel, Oxford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0198291612 (page 48)
  11. ^ Ukrainian Independence, Worldwide News Ukraine
  12. ^ NEWSBRIEFS FROM UKRAINE Archived 2020-11-16 at the Wayback Machine, The Ukrainian Weekly (8 December 1991)
  13. ^ a b Russia's New Politics: The Management of a Postcommunist Society by Stephen K. White, Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0521587379 (page 240)
  14. ^ Citizens in the Making in Post-Soviet States by Olena Nikolayenko, Routledge, 2001, ISBN 0415596041 (page 101)
  15. ^ Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation by Robert A. Saunders & Vlad Strukov, Scarecrow Press, 2010, ISBN 0810854759 (page 75)
  16. ^ Turning Points – Actual and Alternate Histories: The Reagan Era from the Iran Crisis to Kosovo by Rodney P. Carlisle and J. Geoffrey Golson, ABC-CLIO, 2007, ISBN 1851098852 (page 111)
  17. ^ a b Brian D Taylor, "The Soviet Military and the Disintegration of the USSR." Journal of Cold War Studies 5.1 (2003) 56-58. https://doi.org/10.1162/152039703320996713
  18. ^ Mark Kramer, "The reform of the Soviet system and the demise of the Soviet state." Slavic Review 63.3 (2004) 507. https://doi.org/10.2307/1520339
  19. ^ Adrian Karatnycky, "The Ukrainian Factor", Foreign Affairs, 71.3 (1992), p.90. https://doi.org/10.2307/20045232
  20. ^ Peter J. Potichnyj, "The Referendum and Presidential Elections in Ukraine", Canadian Slavonic Papers, 33:2, (1991) 123~4, 127, 128~129, 132. https://doi.org/10.1080/00085006.1991.11091956
  21. ^ Taras Kuzio, "Ukrainian nationalism", Journal of Area Studies, 2:4 (1994) 91-92. https://doi.org/10.1080/02613539408455708
  22. ^ Mark Kramer (2022) The Dissolution of the Soviet Union: A Case Study of Discontinuous Change, Journal of Cold War Studies, 24 (1):206, 214. https://doi.org/10.1162/jcws_a_01059
  23. ^ Laura Blaj, "Ukraine’s Independence and Its Geostrategic Impact in Eastern Europe", Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 21.2-3 (2013) 165. https://doi.org/10.1080/0965156X.2013.841797
  24. ^ a b Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith by Andrew Wilson, Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0521574579 (page 128)
  25. ^ The Return: Russia's Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev Archived 2024-08-20 at the Wayback Machine by Daniel Treisman, Free Press, 2012, ISBN 1416560726 (page 178)
  26. ^ Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith by Andrew Wilson, Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0521574579 (page 129)
  27. ^ a b Russians in the Former Soviet Republics Archived 2023-01-13 at the Wayback Machine by Pål Kolstø, Indiana University Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-253-32917-2 (page 191)
    Ukraine and Russia: Representations of the Past Archived 2023-01-13 at the Wayback Machine by Serhii Plokhy, University of Toronto Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8020-9327-1 (page 184)
  28. ^ Post-Communist Ukraine Archived 2023-12-16 at the Wayback Machine by Bohdan Harasymiw, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2002, ISBN 1895571448
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