PODGORICA (Serbia and Montenegro), May 21: Montenegro voted in favour of independence on Sunday in a referendum on ending its state union with Serbia, according to an unofficial projection of the result.

The Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID) and the Centre for Monitoring (CEMI) told a news conference the ‘Yes” vote was an estimated 56.3 per cent — surpassing the 55 per cent threshold required for the outcome to be validated.

“The preliminary result is 56.3 per cent, which means that we already have quite a stable situation with the proviso that this is not the final estimate,” said Zlatko Vujovic of CEMI.

Waves of celebratory gunfire and fireworks thundered across the capital Podgorica moments after the unofficial result was broadcast.

If upheld by official results due early on Monday, the outcome will dissolve a partnership with Serbia going back to 1918 in various forms. Montenegro would be the last of ex-Yugoslavia’s six federal republics to part company with Serbia since 1991.

The mountainous Adriatic republic has only 650,000 people but pro-independence leaders say it has a better chance of economic prosperity on its own than in a dysfunctional union with Serbia.—Reuters