1991 Russian presidential referendum

A referendum on creating the post of President of Russia was held in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on 17 March 1991.^[1] The referendum was held alongside a referendum of the preservation of USSR. Prior to the referendum, the Russian head of state was the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, elected by the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR. With 71% of voters approving the proposal, the post of President of the Russian SFSR was introduced, and two months later Boris Yeltsin was elected as the first president.

1991 Russian presidential referendum

17 March 1991
Do you consider it necessary to introduce the post of President of the RSFSR elected by popular vote?
Results
Choice Votes  % Yes 53,385,275 71.38% No 21,406,152 28.62% Valid votes 74,791,427 97.86% Invalid or blank votes 1,633,683 2.14% Total votes 76,425,110 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 101,776,550 75.09%
For       Against       Vote not held

Question

Do you consider it necessary to introduce the post of President of the RSFSR elected by popular vote?^[2][3]

Results

Choice		Votes	%
For		53,385,275	71.38
Against		21,406,152	28.62
Total		74,791,427	100.00
Valid votes		74,791,427	97.86
Invalid/blank votes		1,633,683	2.14
Total votes		76,425,110	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		101,776,550	75.09
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Gallery

• 
  Voter invitation card for the referendum
• 
  People's Deputy of USSR Yury Afanasyev at a Moscow rally in support Boris Yeltsin and Russian presidential referendum
• 
  Boris Yeltsin campaigning in support of the referendum
• 
  Moscow mayor Gavriil Popov at a rally in support of the referendum

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1642 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1647
3. Сообщение Центральной комиссии РСФСР по проведению референдумов Archived 2012-01-08 at the Wayback Machine