Milosevic should go - Cook

President Milosevic and his wife vote during election

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has called on Slobodan Milosevic to step down in the wake of his apparent defeat in Sunday's elections.

Speaking in Brighton, where he is attending the Labour Party conference, Mr Cook said: "All the reliable evidence that we have suggests that the people have voted Milosevic out by a massive majority."

According to our count, the first-round victory is certain

Dawn is coming to Serbia

Vojislav Kostunica

Reports from across Serbia are suggesting that opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica has polled 57% of the votes to Mr Milosevic's 33% in a third of all polling stations.

Milosevic was a "beaten, broken-backed" president, Mr Cook told reporters, adding: "My message to him today is be honest with your people, don't cheat them, get out of the way and let Serbia get out of the prison into which you have turned it."

Mr Milosevic has shown no signs of admitting defeat or giving up the reigns of power which he has held for 13 years.

His spokesman in Belgrade, Nikola Sainovic, said he doubted there would even be a need for a run-off vote - required if no candidate gets more than 50% - because "our candidate is leading".

Election 'plagued by irregularities'

Voting was yesterday plagued by reports of electoral irregularities by Milosevic backers, including ballot box stuffing, according to the few domestic monitors watching the polls.

Mr Cook said that despite attempting to rig the poll, President Milosevic had failed to get the result he wanted.

"Milosevic did everything he could to intimidate, to bully, to silence the opposition.

"This morning I want to congratulate the people of Serbia in refusing to be bullied out of using their democratic vote," he said.

President Milosevic's efforts to cling on to power were probably not over yet, he said, adding: "We know he is preparing to rig the result, but the scale of this defeat is too great for even him to fix it."

Results had yet to come in from army barracks, prisons, and the postal vote, and President Milosevic would try to use those votes to shore up his position.

Despite Mr Milosevic's record on rigging polls, Mr Kostunica expressed optimism about his country's future.

He said after the voting: "According to our count, the first-round victory is certain. Dawn is coming to Serbia. I'm excited."

Mr Cook's comments came after Yugoslavia's opposition claimed victory and urged Mr Milosevic to quit power peacefully after 13 years of hard-line rule.

'Stay away' from Montenegro

And he issued a stark warning to Mr Milosevic not to interfere with Montenegro - Serbia's unwilling partner in the Yugoslav Federation.

The international community would continue to watch Montenegro "with the greatest care and the greatest vigilance".

The foreign secretary said he wanted to send a clear message to Mr Milosevic that "he should do nothing to interfere with the autonomy and democracy of Montenegro".

"The best hope for the Serbian people, and they themselves have recognised it, is to go for change and get in a candidate who is prepared to work with the international community to restore democratic values to Serbia and enable us to build the kind of relationship with Serbia that we now have with all its neighbours."