Constitution Day (Ukraine)

Constitution Day День Конституції
Stamp of Ukraine commemorating the holiday
Observed by	Ukraine
Type	National
Significance	The anniversary of the signing of the Ukrainian constitution of 1996
Celebrations	Speeches by politicians
Date	28 June
Next time	28 June 2024
Frequency	annual

Constitution Day (Ukrainian: День Конституції) is a Ukrainian public holiday celebrated on 28 June since 1996. It commemorates the anniversary of the approval by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) of the Constitution of Ukraine on 28 June 1996.

History

Immediately after taking office as President of Ukraine, after winning the 1994 Ukrainian presidential election, Leonid Kuchma created the Constitutional Commission, which led to the adoption of a constitution of Ukraine in 1996. (At the time the 1978 Constitution of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was in force in Ukraine.) The Constitution was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada at 9:20 am on 28 June 1996 after deputies had worked all day and all night on the project, remaining in the session hall without breaks. 315 people's deputies, out of a needed 300, voted for the adoption of the Basic Law. Constitution Day did become a public holiday in Ukraine because its foundation was enshrined in the constitution itself (it is the only public holiday that is mentioned in the constitution). Soviet Constitution day (7 October) was never observed in the Ukrainian SSR (the predecessor of modern Ukraine).