1991 Georgian independence referendum

The referendum was sanctioned by the Georgian Supreme Council which was elected in the first multi-party elections held in Soviet Georgia in October 1990, and was dominated by a pro-independence bloc Round Table-Free Georgia led by the Soviet-era dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Having mostly boycotted the all-Union referendum on continued federation and the negotiations on a new union treaty on 17 March,^[2] Georgia became the fourth Soviet republic, after the three Baltic states (Lithuania on 9 February 1991 and Latvia and Estonia on 3 March), to organize the referendum on the issue of independence.^[3]

The only question of the referendum asked: "Do you support the restoration of the independence of Georgia in accordance with the Act of Declaration of Independence of Georgia of May 26, 1918?" The official results showed over 99% in favor with a 90.6% voter turnout.^[1] Due to the ongoing ethnic discord, the polls were largely boycotted by the non-Georgian population in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, although local Georgian population of these regions participated in the vote.^[3][4]

Four days after the final results were announced, the Georgian Supreme Council unanimously passed the declaration of independence [ka] on the second anniversary of the Soviet army crackdown on peaceful protests in Tbilisi on 9 April 1989.^[5][6]

The referendum coincided with a private visit of the former U.S. President Richard Nixon who visited a few polling stations in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi before his departure to Moscow later that day.^[7]