All-Union Referendum of 17 March 1991

Background

On 24 December 1990, the Fourth Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, voting by name, resolved that preserving the USSR as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics was necessary and called a referendum. Five questions were initially proposed: (1) whether the USSR should be preserved as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics, (2) whether the USSR should be preserved as a single state, (3) whether the socialist system should be preserved in the USSR, (4) whether Soviet power should be preserved in the renewed Union, (5) whether the rights and freedoms of every nationality should be guaranteed in the renewed Union. On Gorbachev's initiative the Congress adopted two referendum decisions, on private ownership of land (1,553 for, 84 against, 70 abstained) and on preserving the Union as a renewed federation (1,677 for, 32 against, 66 abstained); only the second referendum was proceeded with. The Congress decree of 24 December 1990 No. 1856-1 ordered an all-Union referendum on preserving the renewed Union taking into account the result in each republic separately, and tasked the Supreme Soviet with fixing the date; on 27 December 1990 the USSR law "On popular vote (USSR referendum)" came into force, under which the right to call a referendum belonged to the Congress, or between Congresses to the Supreme Soviet. On 16 January 1991 the Supreme Soviet (decree No. 1910-1) set the referendum for Sunday 17 March 1991 across the whole USSR, put on the ballot the single question on preserving the USSR as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics with the answers "Yes" or "No", and provided that the all-Union result be determined taking into account each republic's voting results.

Boycott and regional variation

Central republican referendum commissions were created in nine republics (RSFSR, Byelorussia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenia). Authorities of Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Armenia and Estonia blocked the all-Union referendum on their territory; no central republican commissions were formed there, yet voting took place where district commissions existed and in military units. On 25 February 1991 the Supreme Soviet held that republican acts blocking the referendum were illegal and not subject to implementation, allowed local authorities to form precincts and districts themselves, and authorised precinct and district commissions in military units of the Defence Ministry, KGB and MVD to add service members' families and other citizens unable to vote at their place of residence.

Kazakhstan's Supreme Soviet reworded the question to ask about preserving the USSR as a "Union of equal sovereign states", while the Kazakh presidium asked that the republic's results still be counted in the all-Union totals. Ukraine's presidium supported the all-Union referendum and added a second ballot question on Ukraine joining a Union of Soviet sovereign states on the basis of the Declaration of State Sovereignty. The same day the RSFSR held its own referendum on creating the post of President of the RSFSR (75.09% turnout, 71.3% in favour), and Moscow additionally polled residents on direct mayoral elections. In Uzbekistan a supplementary question on remaining part of the renewed Union as a sovereign equal republic was approved by 94.9% on 95.5% turnout, and in Kirghizia a similar supplementary sovereignty question was approved by 62.2% on 81.7% turnout.

Voting was also held in Abkhazia (99.06% support reported for preserving USSR unity in a related referendum) and South Ossetia (only 9 of 44,000 voted against preservation), the latter on the day Georgian armed formations assaulted Tskhinvali. Transnistria and Gagauzia voted too, with 98% support in each. In the six non-participating republics voluntary referendums were organised by pro-Soviet front organisations without official sanction, with turnout there considerably below 50% of franchised voters and excluded from the official Central Referendum Commission statement. Ballots cast at districts and precincts formed in military units in the non-participating republics and at Soviet institutions and military units abroad, counted in the all-Union totals, gave 1,233,858 votes from 1,261,721 registered, with 1,107,980 (89.8%) yes, 113,283 (9.2%) no and 12,595 invalid.

Results and the unimplemented mandate

By the official figures, of 185,647,355 registered voters 148,574,606 took part (80.03%); 113,512,812 (76.4%) answered "Yes", 32,303,977 (21.74%) answered "No", and 2,757,817 ballots (1.86%) were invalid. Republic-level results in participating republics: RSFSR 71.3% yes on 75.4% turnout; Ukraine 70.2% yes; Byelorussia 82.7% yes; Uzbekistan 93.7% yes; Kazakhstan 94.1% yes; Azerbaijan 93.3% yes; Kirghizia 94.6% yes; Tajikistan 96.2% yes; Turkmenistan 97.9% yes; Karakalpakstan 97.6% yes; Nakhichevan 87.3% yes on 20.6% turnout. Moscow and Leningrad were roughly split and Sverdlovsk only 34% in favour. The published figures for Kirghizia differ between sources: the republic's voting table (2,341,646 registered, 2,174,593 taking part, 92.9%) gives 94.6% yes, while a RIA Novosti figure of 96.4% is an isolated outlier and appears to be an error. In Ukraine the supplementary sovereignty question was approved by 80.2% according to Russian-language sources, while Nohlen and Stöver give 81.7% (81.69% in their poll table); the two figures are in documented conflict and neither is asserted here as authoritative. A same-day Galician referendum in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Ternopil saw 88% support Ukraine's independence.

On 21 March 1991 the Supreme Soviet reviewed the preliminary results: it noted 112 million (76% of voters) supported preserving the USSR, and 113,512,812 by updated data, and stated that more than two million citizens in the six non-participating republics had still voted "yes", calling this an act of civic courage, and adopted decree No. 2041-1. The decree instructed state bodies of the USSR and republics to be guided by the people's decision in favour of the renewed Union "as final and binding on the entire territory of the USSR", and recommended the President, Federation Council and republican Supreme Soviets press on faster towards completing and signing the new Union Treaty and drafting a new USSR constitution. The Supreme Soviet likewise asked the USSR Constitutional Oversight Committee to examine whether republican acts restricting citizens' referendum rights conformed to the USSR constitution, and on 3 April 1991 the Committee confirmed its 5 March statement that any such acts by republican authorities contravened the USSR constitution.

On the basis of the referendum the Novo-Ogaryovo working group prepared a draft treaty "On the Union of Sovereign Republics", signing was set for 20 August 1991, but the State Committee on the State of Emergency attempted to remove Gorbachev forcibly on 18 to 21 August 1991 and derailed the signing. The GKChP appeal of 18 August 1991 itself claimed that the results of the nationwide referendum on the unity of the Fatherland had been trampled; its coup failed, and the USSR formally ceased to exist on 26 December 1991. On 8 December 1991 the leaders of Belarus, the RSFSR and Ukraine signed the Belovezha Accords creating the CIS, and on 11 December 1991 the USSR Constitutional Oversight Committee stated that the CIS declaration's assertion that the USSR ceased to exist could only be a political assessment without legal force. On 21 December 1991 the Alma-Ata agreements brought the remaining union republics except Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Baltics into the CIS; on 26 December 1991 the Council of Republics adopted declaration No. 142-N terminating the existence of the USSR. The Russian Supreme Soviet presidium had ended USSR deputies' activity in Russia from 2 January 1992, and on 17 March 1992, when some former USSR people's deputies attempted to convene a Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR in Moscow on the referendum's anniversary, it called such attempts an encroachment on Russia's state sovereignty.

Distinctions and legacy

On 15 March 1996 the Russian State Duma, relying on Article 29 of the 27 December 1990 USSR law on referendums, adopted resolutions holding that the results of the 17 March 1991 referendum formally retained legal force (no other USSR referendum having been held) and annulling the RSFSR Supreme Soviet's 12 December 1991 denunciation of the treaty forming the USSR; the Federation Council asked it to reconsider, and on 10 April 1996 the Duma characterised its own resolutions as political, not affecting the stability of Russia's legal system or its international obligations. The Duma's March 1996 resolutions drew negative reactions from leaders of several CIS states (Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Moldova) and the National Assembly of Azerbaijan. In the six boycotting republics the all-Union referendum was supplanted by republican votes on independence: Lithuania's poll of 9 February 1991 (84% turnout, 90.4% for an independent democratic Lithuania, with Iceland recognising independence on 12 February), Latvia's and Estonia's votes of 3 March 1991 (Latvia 73.7% for independence; Estonia 77.8% for restoring independence), Georgia's referendum of 31 March 1991 (90.79% turnout, 99.08% for restoring independence) and Armenia's of 21 September 1991 (95% turnout, 99% for leaving the USSR). In Estonia a parallel vote on whether sovereign Estonia should remain in the USSR also drew a positive majority, while in Latvia's 3 March electoral consultation 1,666,128 residents (87.6% of voters) took part with 73.7% for independence.