2000 Ukrainian constitutional referendum: Difference between revisions

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A four-part constitutional referendum was held in Ukraine on 16 April 2000.^[1] The referendum was called by President Leonid Kuchma,^[2] and asked voters whether they approved of four amendments to the constitution that would increase the powers of the President and introduce an upper chamber.^[2]

Although all four were approved by wide margins,^[3] the changes were never implemented by the Verkhovna Rada on the basis that the referendum was unconstitutional, as it had not passed the proposals before they went to a referendum.^[2] The Venice Commission that reviewed the case confirmed the questionable nature of the referendum that should be reviewed by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

Questions

Do you support the proposal to complete Article 90 of the Constitution of Ukraine with a new third part with the following content: "The President of Ukraine can suspend the powers of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, if the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine fails to form a stable and operational majority in one month, or if it fails to adopt the state budget of Ukraine prepared and submitted in due form by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in three months." That could be considered as an additional reason for the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by the President of Ukraine with a corresponding amendment to paragraph 8 part one of Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine: "and other cases as established in the constitution of Ukraine"?^[3]
Do you agree with the necessity to limit the immunity of the People's Deputies of Ukraine and to delete paragraph three of Article 80 of the Constitution of Ukraine which reads: "People's Deputies of Ukraine cannot be held criminally liable, detained or arrested without the consent of the Verkhovna Rada"?^[3]
Would you agree to reduce the number of People's Deputies of Ukraine from 450 to 300 and to replace, in this context, in the first part of Article 76 the words "four hundred and fifty" by "three hundred", and to make corresponding changes in the legislation on elections?^[3]
Do you agree that it is necessary to create a two-chamber parliament where one of the chambers would represent interests of the Ukrainian regions, and to introduce the corresponding changes to the Constitution of Ukraine and legislation on elections?^[3]

Conduct

According to historian Serhy Yekelchyk President Kuchma's administration "employed electoral fraud freely" during the referendum.^[4]

Results

Question	For		Against		Invalid/ blank	Total votes	Registered voters	Turnout (%)	Result
Question	Votes	%	Votes	%	Invalid/ blank	Total votes	Registered voters	Turnout (%)	Result
Additional circumstances under which the president can suspend parliament	25,177,984	85.92	4,126,394	14.08	393,669	29,698,047	36,629,926	81.08	Approved
Introducing limitations on parliamentary immunity	26,461,382	90.24	2,862,560	9.76	370,763	29,694,705	36,629,926	81.07	Approved
Reducing the number of members of parliament from 450 to 300	26,730,432	91.14	2,597,915	8.86	366,514	29,694,861	36,629,926	81.07	Approved
Making the parliament bicameral	24,284,220	82.94	4,994,336	17.06	416,824	29,695,380	36,629,926	81.07	Approved
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1976 ISBN 9783832956097
^ ^a ^b ^c Nohlen & Stöver, p1969
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Nohlen & Stöver, pp1985–1986
^ The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know by Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 0190237287 (page 87)

External links

2000 Referendum Central Election Commission of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Constitutional Referendum in Ukraine (2000) Venice Commission (in English)

[NS-1] Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1976 ISBN 9783832956097

[N3-2] Nohlen & Stöver, p1969

[N2-3] Nohlen & Stöver, pp1985–1986

[4] The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know by Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 0190237287 (page 87)

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[2]

[3]

[4]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Politics of Ukraine}}
+{{Leonid Kuchma series}}
-'''2000 [[Ukrainian national referendum]]''' ({{lang-uk|Всеукраїнський референдум 16 квітня 2000 року}}) held on [[April 16]], [[2000]] on the issue of reformation the [[Government of Ukraine|governing system]] of [[Ukraine]] was formally initiated by [[President of Ukraine|President]] [[Leonid Kuchma|Kuchma]] and organized by the [[Central Election Commission of Ukraine|Central Election Commission]] on the mass "public initiative" represented by activist groups across the country.
+A four-part constitutional referendum was held in [[Ukraine]] on 16 April 2000.<ref name=NS>[[Dieter Nohlen]] & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1976 {{ISBN|9783832956097}}</ref> The referendum was called by President [[Leonid Kuchma]],<ref name=N3>Nohlen & Stöver, p1969</ref> and asked voters whether they approved of four amendments to the [[Constitution of Ukraine|constitution]] that would increase the powers of the President and introduce an upper chamber.<ref name=N3/>
-However, that "initiative" is widely perceived as being staged by the [[business oligarch|oligarch]]s from Kuchma's inner circle in order to preserve their influence and prevent popular [[Viktor Yushchenko]] from winning the next presidential election. The legal grounds and circumstances of the referendum have been hardly questioned by the Ukrainian opposition.
+Although all four were approved by wide margins,<ref name=N2>Nohlen & Stöver, pp1985–1986</ref> the changes were never implemented by the [[Verkhovna Rada]] on the basis that the referendum was unconstitutional, as it had not passed the proposals before they went to a referendum.<ref name=N3/> The [[Venice Commission]] that reviewed the case confirmed the questionable nature of the referendum that should be reviewed by the [[Constitutional Court of Ukraine]].
-Formally, four questions were asked in the referendum:
-* On conditions for dissolution of the parliament
-* On immunity of a deputy
-* On decrease of the number of parliament deputies
-* On introduction of two-chamber parliament
-The majority of citizens answered ''"Yes"'' to all four questions.
+==Questions==
-*[http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/r001/webproc21r?kodvib=300&rejim=0 Questions of the referendum] (in Ukrainian)
+#Do you support the proposal to complete Article 90 of the Constitution of Ukraine with a new third part with the following content: "The President of Ukraine can suspend the powers of the [[Verkhovna Rada]] of Ukraine, if the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine fails to form a stable and operational majority in one month, or if it fails to adopt the state budget of Ukraine prepared and submitted in due form by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in three months." That could be considered as an additional reason for the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by the President of Ukraine with a corresponding amendment to paragraph 8 part one of Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine: "and other cases as established in the constitution of Ukraine"?<ref name=N2/>
-*[http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/r001/webproc17r?kodvib=300 Results of the referendum] (in Ukrainian)
+#Do you agree with the necessity to limit the immunity of the People's Deputies of Ukraine and to delete paragraph three of Article 80 of the Constitution of Ukraine which reads: "People's Deputies of Ukraine cannot be held criminally liable, detained or arrested without the consent of the Verkhovna Rada"?<ref name=N2/>
+#Would you agree to reduce the number of People's Deputies of Ukraine from 450 to 300 and to replace, in this context, in the first part of Article 76 the words "four hundred and fifty" by "three hundred", and to make corresponding changes in the legislation on elections?<ref name=N2/>
+#Do you agree that it is necessary to create a two-chamber parliament where one of the chambers would represent interests of the Ukrainian regions, and to introduce the corresponding changes to the Constitution of Ukraine and legislation on elections?<ref name=N2/>
-== See also ==
+==Conduct==
+According to historian [[Serhy Yekelchyk]] President Kuchma's administration "employed electoral fraud freely" during the referendum.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_KRBCgAAQBAJ&dq=Ukrainian+constitutional+referendum+election+fraud+2000&pg=PA87 ''The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know''] by [[Serhy Yekelchyk]], [[Oxford University Press]], 2015, {{ISBN|0190237287}} (page 87)</ref>
+==Results==
+{| class=wikitable style=text-align:right
+!rowspan=2|Question
+!colspan=2|For
+!colspan=2|Against
+!rowspan=2|Invalid/<br />blank
+!rowspan=2|Total<br />votes
+!rowspan=2|Registered<br />voters
+!rowspan=2|Turnout<br>(%)
+!rowspan=2|Result
+|-
+!Votes
+!%
+!Votes
+!%
+|-
+|align=left|Additional circumstances under which the president can suspend parliament||25,177,984||85.92||4,126,394||14.08||393,669||'''29,698,047'''||36,629,926||81.08||{{Yes2|Approved}}
+|-
+|align=left|Introducing limitations on parliamentary immunity||26,461,382||90.24||2,862,560||9.76||370,763||'''29,694,705'''||36,629,926||81.07||{{Yes2|Approved}}
+|-
+|align=left|Reducing the number of members of parliament from 450 to 300||26,730,432||91.14||2,597,915||8.86||366,514||'''29,694,861'''||36,629,926||81.07||{{Yes2|Approved}}
+|-
+|align=left|Making the parliament bicameral||24,284,220||82.94||4,994,336||17.06||416,824||'''29,695,380'''||36,629,926||81.07||{{Yes2|Approved}}
+|-
+|colspan=10 align=left|Source: Nohlen & Stöver
+|}
+==See also==
 *[[Ukraine without Kuchma]] - a protest campaign partially provoked by the unpopular referendum
+==References==
+{{reflist}}
 ==External links==
-*{{uk icon}} [http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/r001/webproc0r 2000 Referendum] - Official website by the [[Central Election Commission of Ukraine]]
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120205091241/http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/r001/webproc0r 2000 Referendum] [[Central Election Commission of Ukraine]] {{in lang|uk}}
-*{{en icon}} [http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2000/CDL-INF(2000)011-e.asp Constitutional Referendum in Ukraine (2000)] - Opinion adopted by the [[Venice Commission]]
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111216073029/http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2000/CDL-INF(2000)011-e.asp Constitutional Referendum in Ukraine (2000)] [[Venice Commission]] {{in lang|en}}
+{{Ukrainian elections}}
-{{Ukrainian Elections}}
-{{unreferenced|date=October 2006}}
 [[Category:Referendums in Ukraine]]
-[[Category:2000 referendums|Ukrainian national referendum]]
+[[Category:2000 referendums|Ukraine]]
-[[Category:2000 in Ukraine|National referendum, 2000]]
+[[Category:2000 elections in Ukraine|Constitutional]]
+[[Category:History of Ukraine since 1991]]
-{{Europe-election-stub}}
+[[Category:Constitutional referendums]]
-{{Ukraine-hist-stub}}
+[[Category:April 2000 events in Ukraine|Constitutional]]
-[[it:Referendum ucraino del 2000]]
-[[pl:Referendum na Ukrainie w 2000 roku]]

v t e Elections and referendums in Ukraine
Presidential elections	1991 1994 1999 2004 2010 2014 2019 Next
Parliamentary elections	1918 1938 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1980 1985 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2007 2012 2014 2019 Next
Local elections	1939 (Feb) 1939 (Oct) 1947 1950 1953 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1980 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2015 2020 Next
Referendums	1991 (Mar) 1991 (Dec) 2000
See also: Elections and referendums in Crimea