A four-part referendum was held in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

on 16 April 2000. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1976 The referendum was called by President

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corru ...

,Nohlen & Stöver, p1969 and asked voters whether they approved of four amendments to the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

that would increase the powers of the President and introduce an upper chamber. Although all four were approved by wide margins,Nohlen & Stöver, pp1985–1986 the changes were never implemented by the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

on the basis that the referendum was unconstitutional, as it had not passed the proposals before they went to a referendum. The

Venice Commission The Venice Commission, officially European Commission for Democracy through Law, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin ...

that reviewed the case confirmed the questionable nature of the referendum that should be reviewed by the

Constitutional Court of Ukraine The Constitutional Court of Ukraine ( ua, Конституційний Суд України) is the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine interprets the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of l ...

Conduct

According to historian

Serhy Yekelchyk Serhy Yekelchyk (born November 13, 1966 in Kyiv) is a Ukrainian Canadian historian, who has published widely on modern Ukrainian and Russian history and Russian-Ukrainian relations. Education and career Yekelchyk received his B.A. from the Unive ...

President Kuchma's administration "employed electoral fraud freely" during the referendum.''The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know''
by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2015, (page 87)

Results

Question I

Question II

Question III

Question IV

References

External links

2000 Referendum
Central Election Commission of Ukraine
Constitutional Referendum in Ukraine (2000)

{{Ukrainian elections Referendums in Ukraine 2000 referendums National referendum, 2000 History of Ukraine since 1991 Constitutional referendums April 2000 events in Ukraine