MONTENEGRO: Gunfire spat into the darkness across Montenegro in the early hours of yesterday as supporters of the President, Mr Milo Djukanovic, celebrated his party's success in parliamentary elections with wild abandon.
But what goes up often comes down. In the cold light of day, what had appeared to be outright victory for Mr Djukanovic and his policy of pulling away from Serbia suffered a setback.
The exuberance of the night before was tempered by news yesterday morning that a tiny opposition group which wants to preserve the Yugoslav federation, comprising Serbia and the tiny mountainous Montenegro, might have won enough votes to rob Mr Djukanovic of overall majority.
The group, the Patriotic Alliance, includes ultra-nationalist Mr Vojislav Seselj - a favourite of former Yugoslav leader Mr Slobodan Milosevic. Election monitors said Mr Seselj's group might be within "tens of votes" of gaining one or even two seats in the new parliament, enough to steal outright control from Mr Djukanovic.
The President has nonetheless emerged as the main victor in the poll, gaining 37-39 seats in the 75-seat parliament, compared with 29 or 30 for the main opposition coalition led by Mr Predrag Bulatovic. The sprinkling of other places will go to tiny groups such as ethnic Albanians and possibly Mr Seselj's supporters.
Mr Bulatovic leads those who mainly want to stay aligned with Serbia. However, both main coalitions earlier this year bowed to EU pressure to adopt a new constitution with far looser ties. Both put their own spin on the deal. Mr Djukanovic said this constituted a step in the direction of independence, while Mr Bulatovic said the agreement at least preserved the link.Although the final result may not be known until tomorrow, Western leaders were relieved that, whatever the eventual outcome, Mr Djukanovic now has a mandate to press forward with badly needed economic and political reforms, including the new constitution.
The result is also good news for the Serbian Prime Minister, Mr Zoran Djindjic, who is a close ally of Mr Djukanovic.