MONTENEGRO is set to become Europe’s newest state after a referendum yesterday backed independence from Serbia, according to exit polls.

The Centre for Free Elections and Democracy and the Centre for Monitoring (CEMI) said that the “yes” vote was 55.3 per cent with a turnout of 88 per cent.

Independence campaigners needed 55 per cent of the vote to succeed. Predrag Sekulic, an official of the pro-independence group, said last night: “It is my pleasure to announce that Montenegro tonight has become an independent state.”

Waves of celebratory gunfire and fireworks thundered across the capital, Podgorica, after the unofficial result was announced. But Predrag Bulatovic, the leader of the antiindependence faction, refused to concede defeat. The official result will be announced this morning.

Vuk Draskovic, the Foreign Minister, called for calm late last night. “If the majority in Montenegro decided on independence, then this is something Serbia should accept,” he said. “This is a historic moment not only for Montenegro, but for Serbia as well.”

The country is deeply divided. Red and gold flags with the crest of the Montenegrin Royal Family — the symbol of the independence movement — fluttered across Podgorica.

“This is the most important day in Montenegro for 100 years,” said one pensioner at a polling station. “We’ve waited a long time for this.”

Ivana, a 43-year-old teacher, said: “Montenegro is in my heart. It is right we have our own republic. It will be better for our children.”

There is a different mood in the mountainous north near the border with Serbia. In the town of Kolasin, those who supported the continuing union with Serbia wore blue T-shirts bearing one word: “Ne!” “It will be a disaster if the union is split up,” said Mileta Ilic, 26. “Serbia will simply stop its financial support and where will we be then? Last night we gathered in the central square to show our support for the union, but the police moved us on.”

In one Kolasin street, Serbian flags were taken down to prevent a clash with pro-independence supporters on the opposite pavement, who were waving the red and gold flags.

There are close cultural, religious and family links between Montenegro and Serbia and many people see no reason to create an international border. But pro-independence supporters, led by Milo Djikanvic, the Prime Minister, said that European integration would happen more quickly if Montenegro travelled alone.

Montenegro would be the last of the former Yugoslavia’s six federal republics to spilt from Serbia since 1991 after a series of bloody conflicts in the early 1990s.

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