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Independence referendum

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Referendum to decide whether a territory should become an independent country

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East Timorese independence referendum in 1999

South Sudanese independence referendum in 2011

Anindependence referendum is a type ofreferendum in which the residents of aterritory decide whether the territory should become anindependent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independence does not always ultimately result in independence.

Procedure

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An independence referendum typically arises first after political success fornationalists of a territory. This could come in the election of politicians or parties withseparatist policies, or from pressure fromnationalist organisations.

Negotiations

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Negotiations for the terms of an independence referendum may take place between the nationalists and the government which exercises sovereignty over the territory. If terms can be agreed, then the independence referendum can be held with its result binding, and respected by theinternational community. Independence referendums can be held without the consent of a national or the federal governments, then the international community will rely on several other factors, e.g. were the local people oppressed by the central government or not, to decide if the result can be recognized or not.

Scottish Government and UK central government delegates discussing the2014 Scottish independence referendum.

Various issues can be discussed in negotiations, such as the date and timing of the poll, as well as voter eligibility. For these instances, common electoral practice is often widely used, although there can be deviations, as seen with the lowering of thevoting age for the2014 Scottish independence referendum.

Other issues to be negotiated include what question or questions should be on the ballot, and what the voting options could be. Independence referendums can offer options of greaterautonomy as well as, or instead of, the status quo. They can also put forward otherconstitutional questions to ballot. The questions that referendums ask may be revised if parties involved in negotiations consider them to be tooleading.

Negotiations notably need to address what would make a result binding. For some independence referendums, a simple majority is required for one option. In other cases, a quota can be used, where a certain percentage of the vote or the electorate needs to be in favour of an option for it to be binding.

Successful negotiations can be hard to achieve for nationalists, as governments can be reluctant to give up sovereignty. For example, nationalists planned to hold a referendum inCatalonia in 2014, but met opposition from theSpanish government. As a result, thereferendum that went ahead was unofficial and non-binding.

Aftermath

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In the event of a vote for independence, there may be negotiations on the terms ofsecession for the territory from the sovereign state. Adeclaration of independence for a new state is then made, and international recognition can follow, as well as membership of international organisations such as theUnited Nations. In cases involving non-binding referendums, this can lead to aunilateral declaration of independence, and thereforepartially recognised orself-proclaimed states, like theDonbas status referendums.

In the event of a vote against independence, there may still be a strong nationalist movement and calls for there to be a rerun of the independence referendum. For example, after two referendums inQuebec, theParti Québécois has continued to raise the prospect of holding another referendum,^[1] and theScottish National Party has said that there should be a repeat of the 2014 referendum now that theUnited Kingdom has left theEuropean Union.

List of independence referendums

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Proposed state	Year	Proposed independence from	Majority for independence	Independence	Recognition of result	Notes
Chile	1817	Spain	Yes	Yes	No	Unilaterallydeclared independence.
Liberia	1846	American Colonization Society	Yes	Yes	Yes
Republic of Maryland	1853	Maryland State Colonization Society	Yes	Yes	Yes
Norway	1905	Sweden–Norway	Yes	Yes	Yes
Iceland	1918	Denmark	Yes	Yes	Yes
Western Australia	1933	Australia	Yes	No	No
Cambodia	1945	France	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mongolia	1945	China	Yes	Yes	Yes	Initially recognized by theRepublic of China, but recognition was abolished in 1953; recognized by thePeople's Republic of China.
Faroe Islands	1946	Denmark	Yes	No	No	Independence declaration annulled by Denmark.
Newfoundland	1948	United Kingdom	No	No	Yes	Integrated with Canada.
Nagaland	1951	India	Yes	No	No	Unrecognized by the government of India.^[2]
Saar	1955	France	No	No	Yes	Integrated withWest Germany.
Cameroon	1958		No	No	Yes	Referendum on a newFrench constitution. A no vote would have led to independence.
Central African Republic	1958		No	No	Yes
Chad	1958		No	No	Yes
Comoros	1958		No	No	Yes
Congo	1958		No	No	Yes
Dahomey	1958		No	No	Yes
Djibouti	1958		No	No	Yes
French Polynesia	1958		No	No	Yes
Gabon	1958		No	No	Yes
Guinea	1958		Yes	Yes	Yes
Ivory Coast	1958		No	No	Yes
Madagascar	1958		No	No	Yes
Mali	1958		No	No	Yes
Mauritania	1958		No	No	Yes
New Caledonia	1958		No	No	Yes
Niger	1958		No	No	Yes
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	1958		No	No	Yes
Senegal	1958		No	No	Yes
Upper Volta	1958		No	No	Yes
Western Samoa	1961	New Zealand	Yes	Yes	Yes
Algeria	1962	France	Yes	Yes	Yes
Malta	1964	United Kingdom	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rhodesia	1964	United Kingdom	Yes	De facto	No	Unilaterallydeclared independence.
Djibouti	1967	France	No	No	Yes
Puerto Rico	1967	United States	No	No	Yes
West Papua	1969	Indonesia	No	No	Yes
Northern Mariana Islands	1969	United States	No	No	Yes
Bahrain	1970	United Kingdom	Yes	Yes	Yes
Niue	1974	New Zealand	Majority for associated status	Associated status achieved	Yes	Became anassociated state of New Zealand.
Comoros	1974	France	Yes	Yes	Yes	Mayotte remained with France.
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands	1975	United States	No	No	Yes
Guam	1976	United States	No	No	Yes
Aruba	1977	Netherlands	Yes	No	Yes	Independence plans dropped in 1994.
Djibouti	1977	France	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nevis	1977	Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla	Yes	No	No	Unofficial referendum to become independent fromSaint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla and attainCrown colony status within theBritish Empire. Unrecognized by the central government.
Quebec	1980	Canada	No	No	Yes
Ciskei	1980	South Africa	Yes	De facto	Partial	Recognized by South Africa; not by the international community.
Guam	1982	United States	No	No	Yes
Micronesia	1983		Yes	Yes	Yes	Became an associated state of the United States.
Marshall Islands	1983		No	No	Yes
Palau	1983		No	No	Yes	Became an associated state of the United States.
Palau	1984		No	No	Yes	Became an associated state of the United States.
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	1984	Australia	No	No	Yes
Falkland Islands	1986	United Kingdom	No	No	Yes
New Caledonia	1987	France	No	No	Yes
Slovenia	1990	Yugoslavia	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unilaterally declared independence.
Armenia	1991	Soviet Union	Yes	Yes	Yes
Azerbaijan	1991	Soviet Union	Yes	Yes	Yes
Croatia	1991	Yugoslavia	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unilaterally declared independence.
Estonia	1991	Soviet Union	Yes	Yes	Yes
Georgia	1991	Soviet Union	Yes	Yes	Yes
Kosova	1991	Yugoslavia	Yes	No	No	Only recognized byAlbania.
Latvia	1991	Soviet Union	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lithuania	1991	Soviet Union	Yes	Yes	Yes
Macedonia	1991	Yugoslavia	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nagorno-Karabakh	1991	Soviet Union	Yes	De facto	No	Unilaterally declared independence, reintegrated into theRepublic of Azerbaijan in 2024 after the2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ukraine	1991		Yes	Yes	Yes
Transnistria	1991		Yes	De facto	No	Unilaterally declared independence.
Gagauz Republic	1991		Yes	De facto^[3]	No	Unilaterally separated from Moldova; reintegrated into the country in 1995.
Turkmenistan	1991		Yes	Yes	Yes
Uzbekistan	1991		Yes	Yes	Yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1992	Yugoslavia	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unilaterally declared independence.
Montenegro	1992	Yugoslavia	No	No	Yes	Montenegro split fromSerbia and Montenegro in 2006.
South Ossetia	1992	Georgia	Yes	De facto	No	Unilaterally declared independence.
Eritrea	1993	Ethiopia	Yes	Yes	Yes
United States Virgin Islands	1993	United States	No	No	Yes
Puerto Rico	1993	United States	No	No	Yes
Curaçao	1993	Netherlands	No	No	Yes
Bonaire	1994		No	No	Yes
Sint Maarten	1994		No	No	Yes
Saba	1994		No	No	Yes
Sint Eustatius	1994		No	No	Yes
Bermuda	1995	United Kingdom	No	No	Yes
Quebec	1995	Canada	No	No	Yes
Seborga	1995^[4]	Italy	Yes	No	No	Regarded as amicronation.
Anjouan	1997	Comoros	Yes	De facto	No	Reintegrated with the Comoros in 2001.
Nevis	1998	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Yes	No	Yes	2/3 majority was required for independence.
Puerto Rico	1998	United States	No	No	Yes
East Timor	1999	Indonesia	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sint Maarten	2000	Netherlands	No	No	Yes
Somaliland	2001	Somalia	Yes	De facto	No
Bonaire	2004	Netherlands	No	No	Yes
Saba	2004	Netherlands	No	No	Yes
Kurdistan	2005	Iraq	Yes	No	No
Curaçao	2005	Netherlands	No	No	Yes
Sint Eustatius	2005	Netherlands	No	No	Yes
Montenegro	2006	Serbia and Montenegro	Yes	Yes	Yes
South Ossetia	2006	Georgia	Yes	De facto	No
Transnistria	2006	Moldova	Yes	De facto	No
Tokelau	2006	New Zealand	Majority for associated status but Quorum not reached	Associated status not achieved	Yes	The referendum was on whether Tokelau should become an associated state of New Zealand. 2/3 majority was required.
Tokelau	2007	New Zealand	Majority for associated status but Quorum not reached	Associated status not achieved	Yes
Tamil Eelam	2009–2010	Sri Lanka	Yes	No	No	Unofficial referendum. Unrecognized by the government of Sri Lanka.
South Sudan	2011	Sudan	Yes^[5]	Yes	Yes
Puerto Rico	2012	United States	No	No	Yes
Donetsk	2014	Ukraine	Yes^[6]	De facto^[7]	No	Unilaterally declared independence.
Luhansk	2014	Ukraine	Yes^[6]	De facto^[7]	No	Unilaterally declared independence.
Veneto	2014	Italy	Yes	No	No	Unofficial referendum. Unrecognized by the government of Italy.
Scotland	2014	United Kingdom	No	No	Yes
Catalonia	2014	Spain	Yes	No	No
Sint Eustatius	2014	Kingdom of the Netherlands	No	No	Yes
South Brazil	2016	Brazil	Yes	No	No	Unofficial referendum. Unrecognized by the government of Brazil.
Puerto Rico	2017	United States	No	No	Yes
Kurdistan	2017	Iraq	Yes	No^[8]	No	The referendum also took place in thedisputed territories of Northern Iraq.
Catalonia	2017	Spain	Yes	No^[9]	No	Unilaterallydeclared independence. Declaration annulled by the government of Spain.^[10]
South Brazil	2017	Brazil	Yes	No	No	Unofficial referendum. Unrecognized by the government of Brazil.
New Caledonia	2018	France	No	No	Yes
Bougainville	2019	Papua New Guinea	Yes	Subject to negotiation^[11]	Yes	Nonbinding vote.^[12] Independence rests with Papua New Guinea's parliament.^[13]
New Caledonia	2020	France	No	No^[14]	Yes
New Caledonia	2021	France	No	No	Yes	Boycotted by pro-independence parties.^[15]
Puerto Rico	2024	United States	No	No	Yes

References

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^"Neverendum referendum: Voting on independence, Quebec-style".BBC News. 8 September 2014. Retrieved17 January 2015.
^Walling, A. Wati; Agrawal, Ankush; Phom, B. Henshet (1 January 2018).Democracy In Nagaland: Tribes, Traditions, and Tensions. Highlander Press.ISBN 9780692070314.
^Marcin Kosienkowski (2017)."The Gagauz Republic: An Autonomism-Driven De Facto State"(PDF).The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review.44 (3):292–313.
^Roth, Christopher F. (March 2015).Let's Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar(PDF). Litwin Books, LLC. p. 90.In 1995, Giorgio held a referendum, with Seborgans opting for independence 304-4.
^"South Sudan backs independence – results".BBC News. 7 February 2011.
^^a ^b"In eastern Ukraine, polls close amid allegations of double-voting".CNN. 11 May 2014. Retrieved30 September 2014.
^^a ^b"Russia Praises Ukraine's Autonomy Law for Rebel Areas".The Wall Street Journal. 17 September 2014. Retrieved30 September 2014.
^"Iraqi Kurds offer to 'freeze' independence referendum result".BBC News. 25 October 2017. Retrieved27 October 2017.
^"Catalonia independence: Spain takes charge of Catalan government".BBC News. 28 October 2017.
^"Suspendida la declaración de independencia de Cataluña".Huffington Post (in Spanish). 31 October 2017.
^Lyons, Kate (2019-12-10)."Bougainville referendum: region votes overwhelmingly for independence from Papua New Guinea".The Guardian. Retrieved2019-12-11.
^"Bougainville referendum not binding - PM".Radio New Zealand. 2019-03-11. Retrieved2019-03-18.
^Mckenna, Kylie; Ariku, Emelda (19 November 2021)."Bougainville independence: recalling promises of international help".The Interpreter. Retrieved3 December 2021.
^Sartre, Julien; Doherty, Ben (4 October 2020)."New Caledonia rejects independence from France for second time".The Guardian.ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved4 October 2020.
^"New Caledonia pro-independence parties reject referendum result".Al Jazeera. 13 December 2021. Retrieved14 December 2021.

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