Montenegro independence confirmed

Official results of Montenegro’s referendum show 55.5% of voters opted for independence, achieving the target majority set by the European Union for recognition of the result.

Results show that 55.5% of voters chose independence

Frantisek Lipka, Montenegro‘s referendum commission president, told a news conference on Tuesday that the issue of a few contested polling stations had been dealt with and no formal complaints had been handed in so far.

   

The earlier preliminary result was 55.4% for independence, which means breaking up Montenegro‘s state union with Serbia.

 

The pro-union camp put no complaints forward initially, then asked for a recount and a thorough check of voters’ lists.

   

Lipka said he had not received any formal complaints from them. Turnout was 86.5%.

Earlier the Montenegrin prime minister had claimed victory for his independence drive in a referendum to dissolve the country’s union with Serbia.

Milo Djukanovic, addressing supporters of his 10-year campaign to restore the independence lost in 1918, said: “Tonight, with the majority decision by the citizens of Montenegro, the independence of the country has been renewed.”

The government’s website quoted him as saying: “We’ve got our state!”

The split of Montenegro from Serbia is the final divorce among the six republics of the former Yugoslavia, which began to fall apart in bloodshed in the early 1990s.

The independence will dissolve a partnership with Serbia going back to 1918 in various forms.

Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia all had to go to war to pull out of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s when Macedonia also quit.

Source: Reuters