Russian constitutional referendum, 1993

A constitutional referendum was held in Russia on 12 December 1993. The new constitution was approved by 58.4% of voters, and came into force on 25 December.

Since 1992 President Boris Yeltsin had been arguing that the 1978 constitution was obsolete and needed replacing. 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.

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.

Voter turnout was officially reported as 54.4%, 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.

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