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)