1991 Ukrainian sovereignty referendum

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 on remaining part of the Soviet Union on New Union Treaty terms. Most voters supported the proposal, however, in the pro-independence Oblasts of Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, and Ternopil, voters opted for independence as part of an additional question.

1991 Ukrainian sovereignty referendum
17 March 1991 (1991-03-17)
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
Choice
 Votes  %
Yes 25,224,687 81.69%
No 5,655,701 18.31%
Valid votes 30,880,388 98.14%
Invalid or blank votes 584,703 1.86%
Total votes 31,465,091 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 37,689,767 83.48%
Voter invitation
Politics of Ukraine
Constitution
Government
Elections

The referendum followed the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine by the republic's parliament on July 16, 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 USSR, the withdrawal from the Soviet Union was proposed. The overwhelming majority of voters backed the idea in another referendum in December, approving a declaration of independence.[2]

Republic-wide
Main article: 1991 Soviet Union referendum

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
See also: :uk:Галицький референдум 1991 (Galician referendum, 1991)
Location of Galicia in Ukraine

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 Archived 2017-10-19 at the Wayback Machine, The Ukrainian Weekly (8 December 1991)
  3. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (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. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (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)
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