Sunday April 22 4:37 PM ET
Montenegro Goes to Polls on Independence Issue

By Mark Heinrich

PODGORICA, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - The people of Montenegro voted on Sunday in an election dominated by the question of whether the small republic should seek independence from Belgrade, scrapping the Yugoslav federation.

Polls forecast a victory of between seven and 18 percentage points for the pro-independence ruling coalition led by President Milo Djukanovic over a leftist opposition bloc dedicated to preserving links with Yugoslavia's much bigger republic of Serbia.

Whether Djukanovic presses ahead with a promised referendum on independence will depend on his margin of victory.

The West is watching the vote closely, concerned that a drive for statehood, 10 years after the original six-republic Yugoslavia broke up violently, could polarize Montenegrins and pour fuel on smoldering separatism in Kosovo, Bosnia and Macedonia.

Diplomats believe that if Djukanovic wins overwhelmingly, the West, however reluctant, will have to accept the final demise of Yugoslavia.

People in the mountainous Adriatic republic lined up at polling stations well before the 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) start. Seventy-one percent of the 450,000 electorate had voted by 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), the republic electoral commission said.

Polling closed at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT), with first projections due within two hours.

The 39-year-old Djukanovic, in a smart gray suit, voted with his chic blonde wife in a shabby school in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, and said he was sure the impoverished republic's drive for statehood would not derail.

Djukanovic Predicts Referendum Soon

``I'm sure today's elections will proceed in a democratic atmosphere with a fair competition of all parties involved,'' the former communist told journalists.

Asked what future he envisaged, Djukanovic, also once a youthful protege of fallen Yugoslav autocrat Slobodan Milosevic, said: ``I see development of democracy and economic reforms leading us to integration (with the European Union).''

When would a referendum be held? ``Soon, of course,'' he said, before shaking hands with admirers in the street and speeding away in a turbocharged German limousine to cheers.

Djukanovic argues that Montenegro is already independent in all but name, having distanced itself from Serbia while Milosevic was Yugoslav president and Belgrade's confrontation with the West over Kosovo triggered NATO air strikes and Milosevic's indictment for war crimes.

Montenegro is plagued by corruption and smuggling, but Djukanovic says the republic can develop and reform more quickly with its own access to international financial institutions.

Predrag Bulatovic, leader of the largest party in the ''Together for Yugoslavia'' coalition, said after voting that the elections could largely ``determine the future of Montenegro but they are not definitive or final.

``We have already announced that these elections are not fair or democratic and we didn't have equal conditions. All state bodies are put into the service of (Djukanovic's party bloc) together with state media,'' Bulatovic said.

``A lot of people attended our rallies and I expect this to be reflected at the polling stations.''

International Spotlight

More than 200 officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were observing the election along with more than 2,000 local independent monitors.

Polling stations shone an infra-red device on voters' hands and dabbed their index fingers with indelible ink to deter double-voting or other kinds of electoral fraud.

In Djukanovic's hometown Niksic, officials at one polling station tried to influence voters' choice, filled out ballot forms for people unable to read and allowed more than one person into voting booths, the CESID agency reported.

After the close of polling, election monitors reported only scattered irregularities that would not affect the overall outcome.

``I expect the historical mistakes of the past to be resolved, that Montenegro becomes independent as it once was, independent and internationally recognized,'' said Dejan Scepanovic, 31, a fireman, after voting.

Montenegro was independent from 1878 to 1918, when it became part of the new state of Yugoslavia.

``I voted for Yugoslavia. Serbs are our brothers,'' said a waitress in her 30s who, like others supporting the pro-Yugoslavia opposition, refused to give her name.

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