Here is an image of the voting ballot used for the referendum on the adoption of the constitution of the Russian Federation in December 1993; Photo Credit: C. T. Evans
This constitution was adopted by national referendum in the Russian Federation on 12 December 1993, and it superseded the 1978 constitution. In the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation was one of the fifteen soviet socialist republics and also the largest republic. It had its own constitution in addition to being subject to the constitution of the USSR. With the end of the Soviet Union in December 1991, a new constitution was necessary for the Russian republic.
Let me note that the Russian Federation became one of the founding members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Содружество Независимых Государств, or CIS) that kind of replaced the Soviet Union in December 1991. The CIS is a much looser confederation than that of the USSR, with much weaker central powers, except in the areas of trade, finance and security. There are nine full members now in the CIS: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, "Moldova", Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Here is a translation of some of the instructions on the ballot:
Ballot for voting
Do you adopt the Constitution of the Russian Federation?
Yes No
If you vote for the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, cross out the word "No."
If you vote against the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, cross out the word "Yes."
Some considerations about the new constitution
- Does the constitution really matter? Russia has had quite a few constitutions in the century since 1905-06, and one could still make the point, quite easily, that Russia has never really been governed by a constitution, especially under the tsar or the Bolsheviks. Now in 1993 there was a chance that Russia might be on the path to quite substantial political change. There was quite a lot of optimism that something might change in Russian governmental practice, but by 2008, I'd argue that the constitutional experiment was pretty much over in Russia. This was very clear when Dmitrii Medvedev and Vladimir Putin cynically switched positions (prime minister and president) to enable them to continue their completely legal control of Russian politics.
- I find it interesting that the referendum was done using paper ballots, no electronic balloting machines. The procedure for marking a ballot was also kind of the reverse that we might expect, crossing out the opposite choice. While I don't think that there was any fraud in the case of this referendum, I just wonder if, in general, voting is easier to manipulate with paper ballots or with a voting machine.
- The Russia Federation includes a a very complicated mix of nationalities, which all has to be provided for in the constitution, and so there are republics, territories, regions, autonomous areas, cities of federal importance and the Jewish Autonomous Region.
- According to the constitution there is a division of powers between the legislature, executive and judicial: "The state power in the Russian Federation shall be exercised by the President of the Russian Federation, the Federal Assembly (the Council of the Federation and the State Duma), the Government of the Russian Federation, and the courts of the Russian Federation." Looking more closely, in " Chapter 4 the President of the Russian Federation," it seems to me that Article 90 contains some very important powers of the president:
- 1. The President of the Russian Federation shall issue decrees and orders.
- 2. The decrees and orders of the President of the Russian Federation shall be obligatory for fulfillment in the whole territory of the Russian Federation.
- 3. Decrees and orders of the President of the Russian Federation shall not run counter to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the federal laws.
Some suggested websites
- Конституция Российской Федерации (text of the constitution from the official website of the Росси́йская Федера́ция)
- Росси́йская Федера́ция (the Russian Federation in English)
- The Russian Constitution (in Russian, English, German and French)