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1993 Russian constitutional referendum
National referendum on Russian Constitution From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A constitutional referendum was held in Russia on 12 December 1993.[1] The new constitution was approved by 58% of voters, and came into force on 25 December.[2]
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Background
Since 1992, President Boris Yeltsin had been arguing that the 1978 constitution was obsolete and needed replacing.[3] He called for a new constitution which would grant more powers to the President.[3] However, two competing drafts of a new constitution were drawn up by the government and the Congress of People's Deputies.[3] Failure of the two groups to reach a compromise led to Yeltsin dissolving the Congress of People's Deputies in September 1993,[3] leading to a constitutional crisis.
Yeltsin then called a Constitutional Assembly that was sympathetic to his views.[3] The Assembly subsequently drafted a constitution that provided for a strong presidency,[3] and was published on 11 November.[4]
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Name
This referendum was officially named "nationwide voting" (Russian: всенародное голосование, romanized: vsenarodnoye golosovaniye) in documents.
Раздел второй
Заключительные и переходные положения
1. Конституция Российской Федерации вступает в силу со дня официального ее опубликования по результатам всенародного голосования.
— 1993 Constitution of Russia
Translated:
Second Section
Concluding and Transitional Provisions
1. The Constitution of the Russian Federation shall come into force from the moment of its official publication according to the results of a nationwide voting.
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Results
Summarize
Perspective
Voter turnout was officially reported as 54%,[5] over the 50% threshold required to validate the referendum.[3] However, doubts remained over the accuracy of the turnout figure, exacerbated by the quick destruction of ballots and area tallies.[4]
By region

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References
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