Montenegrins have voted for independence in a wafer-thin referendum victory that will sever a union with Serbia stretching back nearly a century and close the final chapter in the story of Yugoslavia.

The referendum commission president, Frantisek Lipka, told a news conference yesterday that 55.4 per cent of votes cast on Sunday were in favour of ending the union with Serbia, according to an official preliminary count. The EU had set a target of 55 per cent for recognition. Turnout was 86.3 per cent.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said yesterday he welcomed the "successful" independence referendum by Montenegro and the EU would fully respect the vote's outcome.

"It seems that the process was orderly and we have to congratulate everybody for that," he said, adding that the turnout confirmed the referedum's legitimacy.

"We have not received any complaints up to now," Lipka said.

The mountainous republic on the Adriatic Sea has about 650,000 people. Independence advocates say it has a better chance of development and EU membership on its own than in a dysfunctional union with Serbia, population 7.5 million.

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic claimed victory for his independence drive in the early hours of the morning.

"By a majority decision of the citizens of Montenegro, the independence of the country has been renewed," he told supporters cheering the climax of his decade-long campaign to restore the independence Montenegro last enjoyed in 1918.

"We've got our state," he said.

Analysts say the union could hardly be any looser. The two republics already have different laws and currencies and their joint parliament hardly ever meets.

The result will dissolve a partnership with Serbia and close the final chapter in the story of Yugoslavia, which began to fall apart in the early 1990s.

Flags, music, gunshots

Unofficial results handing victory to the "Yes" camp triggered an immediate, explosive and controversial wave of celebration on Sunday evening.

Less than an hour after polls closed, the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID) said the "Yes" camp had scored 56.3 per cent of the vote in a heavy turnout of 86 per cent.

But two hours later, CESID chief Zoran Lucic, looking uncomfortable, said that projection had shrunk to 55.3 per cent, just over the 55 per cent threshold set by the European Union for the independence drive to be accepted.

Supporters of the union with Serbia said the pollsters had jumped the gun. They demanded to know who organized the rush into the streets of the capital, Podgorica, with flags, fireworks, and occasional semi-automatic weapons fire.

Serbia grudgingly accepts divorce

There was grudging acceptance and just a hint of suspicion in Serbia as Belgrade newspapers reported the victory that would bury the joint state.

Headlines moaned: "Breakaway!" and "It's over."

"Milo's majority questionable," said the Belgrade daily Politika. "One can conclude that the sovereigntists won, but no one can tell by how many votes," it commented.

Aleksandar Simic, adviser to Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, was quoted as saying he would "not be surprised if someone today filed criminal charges" against the pollsters.

"What they did was in the best tradition of separatist scenarios," Simic said.

Source: China Daily