A referendum on independence was held in

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

on 5 November 1964. The question put to voters was, "Are you in favour of or against Rhodesia obtaining independence on the basis of the 1961 Constitution of Rhodesia?" The result was a landslide for the "yes" vote, which was the choice of over 90% of voters, although less than 15% of the voter roll was black. Prime Minister

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to ...

called an

indaba An indaba (; ) is an important conference held by the izinDuna (principal men) of the Zulu and Xhosa peoples of South Africa. (Such meetings are also practiced by the Swazi, who refer to them using the close cognate '.) Indabas may include only ...

with tribal leaders to gauge support, resulting in universal support among the tribal leaders, but Britain did not consider this representative of the majority black population as the tribal leaders were in the pay of the government. The following year, Smith's government made a

Unilateral Declaration of Independence A unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) is a formal process leading to the establishment of a new state by a subnational entity which declares itself independent and sovereign without a formal agreement with the state which it is secedi ...

, making the country a de facto independent state until returning to British colonial rule in 1979 following the

Lancaster House Agreement The Lancaster House Agreement, signed on 21 December 1979, declared a ceasefire, ending the Rhodesian Bush War; and directly led to Rhodesia achieving internationally recognised independence as Zimbabwe. It required the full resumption of d ...

. The British Government did not accept Rhodesian independence as they did not view the referendum as representative of all of Rhodesia. Voter turnout was 62%.Elections in Zimbabwe
African Elections Database

Results

References

{{Zimbabwean elections

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

Referendums in Zimbabwe

Independence referendum An independence referendum is a type of referendum in which the residents of a territory decide whether the territory should become an Independence, independent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independence ...

Constitutional referendums in Zimbabwe