A constitutional referendum was held in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

on 12 December 1993.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1642 The new constitution was approved by 58% of voters, and came into force on 25 December.

Background

Since 1992, President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

had been arguing that the 1978 constitution was obsolete and needed replacing.The Constitution and Government Structure
Country Studies He called for a new constitution which would grant more powers to the President. However, two competing drafts of a new constitution were drawn up by the government and the Congress of People's Deputies. Failure of the two groups to reach a compromise led to Yeltsin dissolving the Congress of People's Deputies in September 1993, leading to a

constitutional crisis In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the constitution, political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variat ...

. Yeltsin then called a Constitutional Assembly that was sympathetic to his views. The Assembly subsequently drafted a constitution that provided for a strong presidency, and was published on 11 November.Richard Sakwa (2008) ''Russian politics and society'' Taylor & Francis, p64

Name

This referendum was officially named "nationwide voting" () in documents. Translated:

Results

Voter turnout was officially reported as 54%,Nohlen & Stöver, p1648 over the 50% threshold required to validate the referendum. However, doubts remained over the accuracy of the turnout figure, exacerbated by the quick destruction of ballots and area tallies.

By region

1993 Russian constitutional referendum margin of victory

References

{{Russian elections Referendums in Russia

Constitutional referendums Constitutional 1993 Russian constitutional crisis