On The 26th Of December 1990, The Result Of The Most Important Plebiscite In Our History Was Announced

On Thursday, the 26^th of December, we celebrated the Independence and Unity Day, which marks the 34^th anniversary of the plebiscite in which Slovenians voted for an independent state. This was a historic milestone when the longing for our own country began to be realised.

The plebiscite was held on the 23^rd of December 1990, and the turnout was extremely high, 93.2 percent. 95 percent of voters voted in favour of secession from communist Yugoslavia. This represented 88.5 percent of the total electorate. We already knew that the historic plebiscite had succeeded at 10 p.m. on the same day.

On the day of the plebiscite, the father of the Slovenian state, Jože Pučnik, said his famous words: “Yugoslavia is gone. Now, it’s about Slovenia!”

The result of the plebiscite was announced three days later, on the 26^th of December, 34 years ago, in the Slovenian Assembly. This day is now celebrated as Independence and Unity Day, which is a national holiday and a work-free day.

Most of the ceremonies to commemorate the historic moment have already been held this year. On the 23^rd of December, Janez Janša said at the commemoration of the milestone moments: “Even today, there are many nations around the world, even in Europe, that are bigger than the Slovenian nation, but they do not have their own country. But we did it! And the final decision leading to this success was the independence referendum that happened on this day, the 23^rd of December, in 1990. It is a day worth remembering by those of us who experienced it, those who were born afterwards, and all future generations.”

On Independence and Unity Day, the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) wrote: “Slovenians want the country we voted for in the plebiscite.” The national holiday dates back to the late 1980s, when democratic aspirations and aspirations for an independent state began to grow in Slovenia, which was then still part of the authoritarian Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), as the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) recalled.

Ž. K.