A constitutional referendum was held in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

on 1 February 1987.Elections in Ethiopia
African Elections Database The new constitution would make the country a one-party

socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically ...

with the Communist Workers' Party of Ethiopia as the sole legal party. It was approved by 81% of voters, with a 96% turnout. It was promulgated on 22 February, inaugurating the

People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia The People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE; ) was a socialist state that existed in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea from 1987 to 1991. The PDRE was established in February 1987 as a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist one-party state upo ...

Background

The ruling Workers' Party of Ethiopia established a Constitutional Commission in February 1986. In August it presented a draft constitution with 119 articles. The document, modelled on the

constitution of the Soviet Union During its existence, the Soviet Union had three different constitutions enforced individually at different times between 31 January 1924 to 26 December 1991. Chronology of Soviet constitutions These three constitutions were: * 1918 Constitutio ...

, created a one-party state under the leadership of the WPE.Ethiopia, 1 February 1987: Constitution
Direct Democracy

Results

Aftermath

The results were published on 21 February and the constitution came into force on 22 February.

General elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

were held on 14 June, and the country was officially renamed the

on 12 September.

References

Ethiopian Civil War

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

Communism in Ethiopia Referendums in Ethiopia Constitutional referendums

Election and referendum articles with incomplete results {{ethiopia-election-stub fr:Élections en Éthiopie#1987