Tensions Soar After Montenegro Vote

Tensions soared in Montenegro Sunday after an independent group monitoring the vote count from the republic's referendum said a majority of Montenegrins voted to secede from much larger Serbia, and the pro-independence bloc in Montenegro declared victory. But the leader of the anti-independence faction refused to concede defeat.

The Center for Monitoring said 55.2 percent of voters opted for independence which, if confirmed by official returns, would write the final chapter in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

"It is my pleasure to announce that Montenegro tonight has become an independent state," said Predrag Sekulic, an official of the pro independence group. "The victory is much higher that the 55 percent needed for Montenegro to become independent."

Under a threshold set by the European Union — and agreed to by Montenegro's government — 55 percent of those casting ballots must vote in favor of independence in order for the Adriatic republic to split from its union with Serbia.

The figures released by the center for Monitoring were based on the group's own count of about 90 percent of the ballots at polling stations. The group said final official results, to be announced on Monday, were unlikely to change much from that figure.

Pro-independence supporters spilled out into the streets in celebration after hearing the tally on state TV, firing guns into the air and setting off fireworks.

But the leader of Montenegro's anti-independence faction, Predrag Bulatovic, refused to concede defeat.

"I urge the government to call on their people to move away from the streets and go home," Bulatovic said, adding that his group was trying to restrain its own supporters from coming out into the streets as well, which could cause major clashes between the two camps.

The division between anti- and pro-independence groups is deeply rooted in the small Adriatic Sea republic's history. With tension building before the vote, there were fears that whatever the outcome, there could be violence after results are announced.

In the former Yugoslavia's recent history, referendum results sometimes led to major clashes and outbursts of nationalism. The Bosnian war started on the day that former republic voted for independence in early 1992, when its minority Serbs rebelled against the pro-independence government.

"I urge peace, tolerance and restraint. I urge our supporters to patiently wait for the results," Bulatovic said. "Such a crucial decision must not be carried out by a trick."

"The results are not final until they are confirmed by the state referendum commission," Bulatovic added. "An arbitrary estimate by a monitoring group must not and cannot destabilize Montenegro."

An EU envoy for the referendum, Miroslav Lajcak, went to meet the rival factions over the crisis. He refused to comment after urgently leaving his hotel.

The State Electoral Commission said turnout was 87 percent. It said the figure was the highest turnout since Montenegro first staged democratic elections in the 1990s.

The Serbia-Montenegro union is the last shred of the Yugoslav federation that began its blood-drenched breakup in the early 1990s. Montenegro's 485,000 voters were now asked whether to break away from Serbia — their partner republic that is eight times their size, and restore Montenegro's 1878-1918 statehood.

Once an independent kingdom, Montenegro was erased from the map after World War I and merged into the newly formed Yugoslavia. Many Montenegrins resisted and a seven-year guerrilla war followed. After World War II, the six-republic Yugoslavia became communist.

During the federation's violent breakup in the 1990s, Montenegro's leaders sided with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic — who would later stand trial for war crimes — in his war campaigns in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia.

But relations soured, and the EU — fearing further fragmentation of Balkan states — brokered a deal in 2002 to keep Serbia and Montenegro together.

Montenegro's pro-independence camp argued that this impoverished but spectacular country of soaring mountains and stunning Adriatic coastline was being stifled by Serbia. The ruling group said breaking away would boost the economy and speed the country's path to joining states like Slovenia, also a former Yugoslav republic, in the prosperous European Union.

The pro-Serbian camp said Montenegro, with a population of 620,000, was too small to be viable on its own.