Turmoil forecast as Montenegro narrowly backs secession

Montenegro’s pro-independence movement has won a slim majority in the general election, but fell short of the mandate for secession it had sought and threw the Yugoslav republic into turmoil, analysts said today.

Although unofficial returns from yesterday’s election gave a majority of seats in parliament to supporters of independence, the margin of victory was not what Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic had hoped for in his drive to break away from Serbia and create a new Balkan nation.