In the spring of 1992 Yugoslav civilians in Bosnia voted in a referendum on the independence of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina from SFR Yugoslavia, achieving a "YES" vote of 99.7% . The holding of this referendum was the result of mass civil unrest in Yugoslavia. Elections held throughout Yugoslavia in 1990 caused great political tension. These elections were the first free elections in Yugoslavia since the abolition of the monarchy and the formation of Yugoslavia as a socialist state in 1943. This newfound freedom for the people to elect chosen representatives saw the cultural and ideological differences of Yugoslavs amplified. The unrest that spread across the state in the form of ethnic nationalism led to independence movements, both democratically (such as that of the Bosnia-Herzegovina independence referendum) and through violent protests. Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1992 split into various self-proclaimed sovereign states with overlapping territorial claims and political visions that caused the Yugoslav Wars. Among the states that declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia those that remain political entities today are Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Albania. Those that now cease to exist as independent entities and comprise modern Bosnia and Herzegovina are the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the autonomous province of Western Bosnia, and Republika Srpska. Another state that formally declared independence from Yugoslavia was the Serbian Republic of Krajina, which included portions of Croatia claimed by the Serbs. The four aforementioned states that claimed territory in modern-day Bosnia were made up of different parties that supported...... middle of paper ...the massacre of eight thousand three hundred and seventy-three in Srebrenica, as well as the massacre of one hundred and sixteen in Źepa. The Serbs are became the majority ethnic group throughout Republika Srpska. to the ethnic mass of Serbs in the north and east Republika Srpska remains one of two political entities within the now independent state of Bosnia and Herzegovina; the other is the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both have equal political representation and devolved powers within the nation. Serbs make up a much larger percentage of the population in Bosnia today than they did in 1992; Croats and Bosnians especially a much lower percentage than at the beginning of the war in Bosnia following the genocides committed by the army of Republika Srpska, including Greek volunteers, and in cooperation with the paramilitary force Scorpio.