Montenegro wants divorce
2006-05-22 15:20
Belgrade - There was grudging acceptance
and just a hint of suspicion among Serbs on Monday after
pro-independence Montenegrins claimed a wafer-thin victory in a
referendum to bury their joint state.
An official preliminary count gave the pro-independence bloc
of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic 55.4% of the vote, just
over the 55% threshold set by the European Union for the
referendum result to be accepted.
Serbian headlines moaned: "Breakaway!" and "It's over".
The manner of victory appeared to leave a bitter taste.
Unofficial projections within an hour of polls closing
triggered an immediate and controversial wave of celebration in
the Montenegrin capital Podgorica - flags, fireworks and the
occasional celebratory semi-automatic weapons fire.
Better this way
Two hours later, pollsters rolled back on their initial
projection of 56.3%, correcting their estimate to just
over 55%. But the champagne was already flowing.
"Milo's majority is questionable," said the Belgrade daily
Politika.
"One can conclude that the sovereignists won, but no one
can tell by how many votes," Aleksandar Simic, adviser to
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, was quoted as saying,
He said he would "not be surprised if someone today filed
criminal charges" against the pollsters.
"What they did was in the best tradition of separatist
scenarios," Simic said.
There was no word from Kostunica himself.
In the run-up to the vote, Serbia urged the Adriatic
republic of 650 000 people against dissolving their union, but
said it would accept the result. The two have been together in
various forms since 1918.
Montenegro would be the last of the federal republics to
part company with the Serb-dominated former Yugoslavia.
Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia left by force of arms. Only
Macedonia split peacefully.
But many Serbs seemed to have grown tired of the 'will-they
won't-they' drama of Montenegrin independence since EU foreign
policy chief Javier Solana cajoled the two into re-jigging what
was left of Yugoslavia into the "state union of Serbia and
Montenegro" in 2003.
"I think it's better this way," said Belgrade student Srdjan
Borov. "It was a matter of time, if it hadn't passed now then it
would have been held again in 3-4 years."
Independence advocates say Montenegro has better chances of
development and EU membership on its own than in a dysfunctional
union with Serbia, population 7.5 million. The two already have
different laws and currencies, their joint parliament hardly
meeting.
Solana on Monday welcomed news of the referendum result.
The union's foreign minister, Vuk Draskovic, said it was
time Serbia "returned to its roots" and restored the monarchy.
"After 50 years of totalitarian rule and six years of tough
transition, it's time for the king," his party said.
(Additional reporting by Gordana Filipovic and Fedja
Grulovic)