Serbian voters have approved a new constitution in a referendum with 51.46 percent of registered voters voting in favor of the bill, the Republic Election Commission said on Sunday evening, citing preliminary results.

The commission said in a statement that according to preliminary results turnout at the referendum was 53.66 percent of registered voters, and these results were obtained after the processing of 10.6 percent of ballots.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica congratulated citizens the approval of the new constitution of the Republic of Serbia and said it was "a historic moment and a new start" for Serbia.

Kostunica, in a statement to national broadcaster Radio Television Serbia, said the fact that over one half of the electorate have voted for approving the new constitution is "something we have to be proud of".

The Republic Election Commission has established that 6,639,385 citizens are eligible to vote. In order for the constitution to be adopted, half of those registered plus one must vote in favor.

A total of 8,385 polling stations, which opened from 7 AM to 8 PM on Saturday and Sunday, were monitored by 68 foreign observers as well as 1335 Serbian observers.

On Saturday there were only 18 percent of voters casting their ballots, raising the fears that the referendum might fail over voter apathy.

Kostunica on Sunday once more called on citizens to vote in the referendum. He warned that the consequences of the referendum's failure would be "far reaching".

Besides replacing the 1990 constitution drawn up under the era of Slobodan Milosevic, the new bill enshrines Kosovo as an "inalienable" part of Serbia, in an eleventh hour bid to block the independence demanded by the ethnic Albanian majority of the province.

Kosovo has been put under UN administration since 1999 when NATO intervened to stop Serbia's crackdown on separatist Kosovo Albanians. The UN-sponsored talks on Kosovo's future status was launched at the end of 2005, while the international Contact Group of six major powers has set the deadline of concluding status talks by the end of 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2006)