Montenegro confirms independence vote

Final results from Montenegro's referendum confirmed victory for the pro-independence bloc, voting officials said on Wednesday, effectively ending a union with Serbia dating back to 1918.

Referendum commission head Frantisek Lipka told reporters that final results showed 55.5 per cent had voted for independence, surpassing the 55 per cent target majority set by the European Union for recognition of the result.

In a quick and curt reaction, the Serbian government said through state news agency Tanjug that with confirmation of the final results Serbia "becomes the successor state to Serbia and Montenegro".

The Speaker of the Montenegrin parliament said he expected the assembly to declare independence at a session yesterday.

The European Union and international election monitors have said the May 21 plebiscite met international standards. The anti-independence bloc lodged over 200 complaints, all of which were ultimately rejected by the referendum commission. Lipka said the commission members from the anti-independence bloc had not voted to endorse the final result, but this would not change the outcome.

Montenegro's divorce from Serbia closes the last chapter of the breakup of federal Yugoslavia. The EU brokered the last union agreement between the two republics in 2003, but has urged them to part amicably and quickly since the vote.

Serbian President Boris Tadic had already acknowledged the preliminary result and followed up with a visit to Montenegro at the weekend. His political rival, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, had insisted on waiting for the final figures.

Serbia's two-year-old minority centre-right coalition, already weakened by defections, will need to be reshuffled to accommodate new ministries of defence and foreign affairs.