The tiny Balkan republic of Montenegro may become the newest
country in the world as over 56.3 percent of voters chose
independence in the referendum yesterday, according to unofficial
results announced by monitoring organizations.
Under conditions mediated by the European Union, Montenegro's
independence from the state union of Serbia-Montenegro will not be
valid unless the referendum passes the threshold of 55 percent of
valid votes with a turnout of at least half of the mountainous
republic's registered voters.
The referendum ended at 9 PM (1900 GMT) on Sunday after a
13-hour voting with a record turnout.
Some 86.7 percent of the 484,718 registered voters cast their
votes by 8:30 PM (1730 GMT), monitoring organizations said, adding
that the turnout is a new record surpassing the earlier elections
turnout of some 82 percent.
The official preliminary results are expected on Monday
morning.
Pro-independence Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic said,
"I'm completely confident that the result of the referendum will
exceed 55 percent, after which our relations with Serbia will
improve and we will continue with the affirmation of our policy of
good neighborly relations and speed up towards European
integration."
Predrag Bulatovic, leader of the pro-Serbian bloc, said that the
citizens would vote to preserve the union of Serbia-Montenegro.
"I'm confident that the citizens' will at the referendum will
preserve the state union of Serbia-Montenegro and that the
referendum will fail, i.e. that Montenegro will not be an
independent state," Bulatovic told reporters after casting his
ballot.
(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2006)
