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Montenegro chooses independenceCrowds celebrate in capital as results show breakup
 Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic celebrates with supporters in Podgorica. RELATEDQUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSPODGORICA, Serbia-Montenegro (CNN) -- Voters in Montenegro have decided narrowly to sever the country's union with Serbia, a move that breaks up the last two pieces of the former Yugoslavia, according to official preliminary results from the election commission. The commission reported Monday that 55.4 percent of the voters in Sunday's referendum supported independence -- just over the 55 percent required for the question to pass, while 44.6 percent did not approve of the separation. The turnout was 86.3 percent, the commission said, and 99.73 percent of the more than 410,000 votes cast have been deemed valid. The European Union commended the conduct of the referendum, adding it will respect the result of the vote. "We will fully respect the result of the referendum," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. He called on both pro-independence and those against to also respect the victory of the pro-independence bloc . Ahead of the official results, people began celebrating inside government buildings Sunday night, and fireworks illuminated the center of the Montenegrin capital Podgorica. The newly formed country is a small, mountainous nation along the Adriatic Sea with a total population of about 650,000 residents. Montenegro's pro-independence camp argued the country was being stifled by Serbia. The ruling group said breaking away would boost the economy and speed the country's path to joining Slovenia, also a former Yugoslav republic, in the prosperous European Union. The division between anti- and pro-independence groups is deeply rooted in the small nation's history, and some feared there could be violence whatever the outcome. Montenegro had been one of six republics within Yugoslavia before the country's violent unraveling in 1991. In 2003, after nearly a decade of war and political upheaval, Serbia and Montenegro replaced what remained of the Yugoslav federation with a loose union. In a news conference Monday, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said his priorities would be to move the country toward membership in the European Union and in NATO. He said he had received messages of congratulations from Croatia and Slovenia, but not from Belgrade. Adopting a diplomatic tone, he suggested that Belgrade could simply be waiting for final preliminary results to be issued. Djukanovic and his Democratic Party of Socialists pushed for full independence, arguing the country would have a better chance of joining the EU if separated from Serbia. That argument was bolstered in the last month, when Serbia's Belgrade government failed to deliver Gen. Ratko Mladic, an indicted Serb war criminal, to a U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Opposition spokesman Predrag Bulatovic disputed early projections, saying supporters fell short of the required margin of victory. Once an independent kingdom, Montenegro was erased from the map after World War I and merged into the newly formed Yugoslavia. Many Montenegrins resisted, and a seven-year guerrilla war followed. After World War II, the six-republic Yugoslavia became communist. During the federation's breakup in the 1990s, Montenegro's leaders sided with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic -- who would later stand trial for war crimes -- in his war campaigns in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. -- Journalist Bruce Konviser contributed to this report. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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