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1961 Southern Rhodesian constitutional referendum

Field	Value
previous_year	1953
previous_referendum	1953 Southern Rhodesian federation referendum
next_year	1964
next_referendum	1964 Rhodesian independence referendum
country	Rhodesia and Nyasaland
flag_year	1953
date
yes	42,004
no	21,846
invalid	558
electorate	83,486

A constitutional referendum was held in Southern Rhodesia, then a constituent territory of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, on 26 July 1961. The new constitution was approved by about 66% of those who voted; turnout was 77%.

The referendum was held using the same franchise as elections to the Legislative Assembly, which excluded most Africans.

Background

Following three years of negotiations with the Southern Rhodesian government and other parties, the British government put forward a draft constitution on 13 June 1961. It provided for a parliamentary system, with a 65-seat parliament;{{cite book |url-access=registration

Results

Choice	Votes	%
For	42,004	65.79
Against	21,846	34.21
Invalid/blank votes	558	–
Total	64,408	100
Registered voters/turnout	83,486	77.15
Source: Willson

Unofficial National Democratic Party referendum

In protest against the official referendum, the black nationalist National Democratic Party (NDP) ran its own poll, professedly based on "one man, one vote", on 23 July. This was peacefully operated, but reportedly amateur and potentially biased in its execution, garnering criticism from British officials, rival nationalists and other observers amidst its virtually unanimous rejection of the constitution. The British High Commission commented that voters in the NDP referendum appeared to be subject to intimidation by the NDP officials running the exercise, and that the votes did not seem to be secret. The rival Zimbabwe National Party called the NDP poll "phoney" and said it was designed "to hoodwink the African people". There were many cases of people posting multiple ballots: two whites told the press they had voted twice and one black man proudly announced that he had voted 11 times. After the government released the results of the official referendum, the NDP announced that their poll had garnered 467,189 votes against the constitution, and only 584 in favour—a reported majority of about 99.9% against.{{Harvnb |Wood |2005

Results

Choice	Votes	%
For	584	0.12
Against	467,189	99.88
Total	467,773	100
Source: Wood

References

Bibliography

{{cite book

References

John Day (1969) "Southern Rhodesian African Nationalists and the 1961 Constitution", ''The Journal of Modern African Studies'', Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 221–247
F.M.G. Willson (1963) ''Source Book of Parliamentary Elections and Referenda in Southern Rhodesia 1898–1962'', p. 187

Info: Wikipedia Source

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