Brief history of referendums - Politics - Scotsman.com By David Maddox Published on Saturday 14 January 2012 00:00 SINCE the start of the 20th century, referendums on independence have produced a pro-separatist result 21 times - while people have voted to remain within a national union on seven occasions. The first country in the 20th century to hold an independence referendum is one from which First Minister Alex Salmond often draws inspiration, due to its oil and social policies. Norway held a referendum in 1905 over a proposal to break away from Sweden. The result was a Yes vote and, even though the Swedish parliament was reluctant to accept the decision, the split happened. The next independence referendum of note did not happen until 1933, when Western Australia held one, following on from anti-British feeling stirred up by the infamous Bodyline Ashes tour, left. The result was Yes, but the British government declined to accept it. In the 1940s, the Faroe Isles and Iceland produced Yes votes on a plan to split from Denmark, and there was not another such referendum until Guinea voted to leave France in 1958. Independence referendums were not really revived again until the fall of Communism. In 1990, Slovenia broke away from Yugoslavia, then in 1991, Ukraine, right, and Georgia voted to leave the USSR. In the same year, there were votes in favour of independence in Croatia and Macedonia, as the old Yugoslavia broke up and war began there amid the heightened ethnic tensions. In that year, the unrecognised state of Transnistria - between Moldova and Ukraine - held a referendum that has led to de facto independence. The 1990s continued with votes in favour of independence in Bosnia, South Ossetia, Eritrea, Moldova and East Timor. In the 21st century, referendums have seen independence for Kosovo, Southern Sudan and Montenegro. No vote in the 21st century has failed to produce a pro-independence vote, but there were famous defeats for nationalists in the 20th century, most notably in Quebec in 1980 and 1995. The second result was very close - 49.42 per cent Yes to 50.58 per cent No. As half of Quebec celebrated, right, the rivals pressed for another vote. It was then dubbed the "neverendum," a word revived by David Cameron to describe the SNP's approach to a Scottish plebiscite. Notably, all the referendums have followed the principle that only the people in the region which might become independent get to vote. In the case of Scotland, there is a debate over whether there should be a UK-wide vote.