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Referendums: what the question and rules change

Votes on independence differ in their questions, voters, counting and legal effect. A percentage means little without them.

2 min read · updated 15 September 2026

The question

Some questions ask directly about statehood, like Scotland’s 2014 question “Should Scotland be an independent country?”.[1] Others ask for a mandate to negotiate: Quebec’s 1980 question sought a mandate for sovereignty with economic association and promised another vote, while its 1995 question tied sovereignty to an offer of partnership.[2][3] Greenland’s 2008 vote was about self-government, not independence.[4]

The territory named in the question matters too. The Kurdistan Region’s 2017 question included disputed areas outside the region’s administration.[5]

Who votes and how results are counted

Franchises differ. Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds could vote in Scotland in 2014, and East Timor’s 1999 ballot included people born there or with family ties to the territory living abroad.[6][7]

So do denominators. Scotland’s declared 55.3% was a share of valid votes, while the Electoral Commission also gave 55.25% of all votes counted; Bougainville’s 97.7% was a share of all ballot papers including informal ones.[8][9]

Before Scotland’s vote the two governments agreed the result would be respected.[10] Bougainville’s vote was non-binding, with ratification reserved to Papua New Guinea’s parliament.[11] In East Timor the parties agreed in advance what each result would lead to.[12]

Other votes were declared unlawful: Spain’s Constitutional Court voided the law behind Catalonia’s 2017 referendum, and Iraq’s federal Supreme Court cancelled the results of the Kurdistan Region’s 2017 vote.[13][14] Canada’s Clarity Act sets out how Parliament would judge whether a question and a majority are clear.[15]

Reading a referendum record on this site

Each referendum record shows the question, the organising authority, who could vote, the legal character, the counts and the denominator behind each percentage. Where a figure was not found it is shown as not reported rather than estimated.

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    Claim: The Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013 set the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?”.

    • Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013 (The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), 2013) link, s. 1(2). Source record
  2. 2.

    Claim: Quebec’s 1980 question asked for a mandate to negotiate sovereignty with economic association and promised a further referendum before any change in political status.

    • Directeur général des élections du Québec, La consultation populaire au Canada et au Québec (Directeur général des élections du Québec), ISBN 2550354249 link, p. 38. Source record
  3. 3.

    Claim: Quebec’s 1995 question asked whether Quebec should become sovereign after formally offering Canada a new economic and political partnership.

    • Directeur général des élections du Québec, La consultation populaire au Canada et au Québec (Directeur général des élections du Québec), ISBN 2550354249 link, p. 50. Source record
  4. 4.

    Claim: Greenland’s 2008 referendum approved self-government, not independence, and was not binding on either parliament.

    • Statsministeriet (Prime Minister’s Office, Denmark), Greenland (Statsministeriet) link, paragraph on the 2008 referendum. Government perspective or primary official source Source record
    • Nuttall, Mark, Self-Rule in Greenland: Towards the World’s First Independent Inuit State?, Indigenous Affairs (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2008) link, p. 65. Source record
  5. 5.

    Claim: The question in the Kurdistan Region’s 2017 referendum, in the UN’s translation, asked about the independence of the region “and the Kurdistani areas (disputed areas) outside the administration of the region”.

    • United Nations Secretary-General, Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to resolution 2367 (2017) (United Nations, 19 October 2017) link, para. 2, p. 1. Source record
  6. 6.

    Claim: People aged 16 or over could vote in the 2014 Scottish referendum.

    • Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Act 2013 (The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), 2013) link, s. 2(1)(a) as enacted. Source record
  7. 7.

    Claim: East Timor’s 1999 ballot allowed people aged 17 or over born in the territory, born elsewhere to a parent born there, or married to someone in either group to vote, including abroad.

    • Government of Indonesia; Government of Portugal and Secretary-General of the United Nations, Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Portuguese Republic on the question of East Timor, with the agreements on the modalities for the popular consultation and on security (United Nations, 5 May 1999) link, annex II, section C, pp. 24–25. Government perspective or primary official source Source record
  8. 8.

    Claim: The Electoral Commission expressed the 2014 Scottish result as 55.25% and 44.65% of all votes counted, whereas the declared 55.3% and 44.7% were shares of valid votes.

    • Electoral Commission, Scottish Independence Referendum: Report on the referendum held on 18 September 2014 (Electoral Commission, December 2014) link, PDF p. 10. Source record
    • Electoral Management Board for Scotland, Result of the Scottish Independence Referendum 2014 (Electoral Management Board for Scotland) link, Result for Scotland. Source record
  9. 9.

    Claim: The 97.7% vote for independence recorded in Bougainville equals independence votes as a share of all 181,067 ballot papers counted, including informal ballots.

    • Government of Papua New Guinea and Autonomous Bougainville Government, Joint Communique on the Outcome of the Bougainville Referendum (UN Peacemaker (copy), 11 January 2021) link, PDF p. 2. Government perspective or primary official source Source record
    • Bougainville Referendum Commission, Statement from the Commission (Bougainville Referendum Commission, 11 December 2019) link, statement text. Source record
  10. 10.

    Claim: In the 2012 Edinburgh Agreement the UK and Scottish Governments agreed that the referendum should have a clear legal base and deliver a result that everyone would respect.

    • UK Government and Scottish Government, Agreement between the United Kingdom Government and the Scottish Government on a referendum on independence for Scotland (UK Government, 15 October 2012) link, Agreement, PDF p. 2. Government perspective or primary official source Source record
  11. 11.

    Claim: Bougainville’s 2019 referendum was described in advance as non-binding, and under the Peace Agreement its outcome is subject to ratification by Papua New Guinea’s National Parliament.

    • Bougainville Referendum Commission, Bougainville Referendum Commission fact sheet 1 (Bougainville Referendum Commission, File placed in the website’s May 2019 upload folder) link, PDF p. 2. Source record
    • Government of Papua New Guinea and Leaders representing the people of Bougainville, Bougainville Peace Agreement (United Nations Security Council, 23 October 2001) link, clause 311, PDF p. 69. Government perspective or primary official source Source record
  12. 12.

    Claim: Under the 5 May 1999 Agreement, rejection of autonomy in East Timor’s popular consultation would end Indonesia’s links with the territory and start a UN-led transition towards independence.

    • Government of Indonesia; Government of Portugal and Secretary-General of the United Nations, Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Portuguese Republic on the question of East Timor, with the agreements on the modalities for the popular consultation and on security (United Nations, 5 May 1999) link, arts. 5–6, p. 7. Government perspective or primary official source Source record
  13. 13.

    Claim: Spain’s Constitutional Court declared the Catalan referendum law of 2017 unconstitutional and void.

    • Tribunal Constitucional, Sentencia 114/2017, de 17 de octubre de 2017 (Ley 19/2017 del referéndum de autodeterminación) (Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, 24 October 2017) link, Fallo; FJ 2. Source record
  14. 14.

    Claim: Iraq’s federal Supreme Court ruled the 2017 Kurdistan referendum unconstitutional and cancelled its results.

    • United Nations Secretary-General, Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to resolution 2367 (2017) (United Nations, 17 January 2018) link, paras. 19 and 36, pp. 4 and 8. Source record
  15. 15.

    Claim: Canada’s Clarity Act requires the House of Commons to judge whether a secession question is clear and whether a clear majority has expressed its will, considering the size of the majority and turnout.

    • An Act to give effect to the requirement for clarity as set out in the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Quebec Secession Reference (Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada, 29 June 2000) link, ss. 1–2. Source record

Source note

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