Montenegro's vote for independence confirmed

Montenegro’s state electoral commission today confirmed the victory of a pro-independence bloc in a referendum to secede from Serbia and form a separate state.

The head of the commission, Fratisek Lipka, said that according to near-complete results, 55.4% voted yesterday for Montenegro to become an independent state.

The European Union had said a minimum 55% threshold of ‘Yes’ votes was needed for Montenegro to secede.

The result confirms the split of the Serbia-Montenegro union, and writes the final chapter in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Even before the official results were announced, independence backers declared victory yesterday, although the unionists refused to concede defeat .

Thousands of independence supporters flooded the streets of the capital Podgorica and other towns to celebrate the restoring their statehood after 88 years of being in the Balkan union.

“I congratulate you on your state,” pro-independence Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said hours after the polls closed. “Today, the citizens of Montenegro voted to restore their statehood.”

“This is the most important day in Montenegro’s recent history,” Djukanovic added.

Outside the government building in Podgorica, thousands of supporters fired guns in the air in celebratory fire, and drove up and down the main street, honking the car horns and waving red-and-golden Montenegrin flags.

But tensions rose as the anti-independence faction refused to concede defeat, urging their opponents to return to their homes and wait for the official results. Predrag Bulatovic, leader of the unionist bloc acknowledged that the rivals were in the lead, but cautioned against hasty predictions.

“Every single vote is important,” Bulatovic said. “It is very important that the result of this referendum be verified in a proper manner.”

The state-run television showed reports of celebrations all over this mountainous republic on the Adriatic Sea, whose population is just over 620,000 people.

The independent Centre for Monitoring also said 55.5 per cent of voters opted for independence. The group said that their tally of the vote was based on all the votes counted and would not change.

In Belgrade, the Serbian officials also urged calm and patience until the official results were announced. Serbia, too, will become a separate state after the break-up of the Serbia-Montenegro union – a successor state to former Yugoslavia.

Montenegro was the only former Yugoslav republic that remained in a union with Serbia after the ex-Balkan federation dissolved in a series of bloody wars in the early 1990s. The pro-independence drive has gained strength in Montenegro over the years, climaxing in yesterday’s referendum.

Once an independent kingdom, Montenegro was erased from the map after the First World War and merged into the newly-formed Yugoslavia. Many Montenegrins resisted and a seven-year guerrilla war followed.

Montenegro’s pro-independence bloc has argued that Montenegro must restore its statehood before it can move forward. But the pro-Serb camp insists that is too small and weak to be viable on its own.

Testifying of the importance of the referendum for Montenegro, the turnout yesterday was about 87% – the highest than at any election ever in the Balkan republic.

The division between anti and pro-independence groups is deeply rooted in the small nation’s history, and some feared there could be violence whatever the outcome.