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Published: 17:29, March 19, 2023 | Updated: 19:24, March 19, 2023
Montenegro votes in presidential election
By Reuters
Published:17:29, March 19, 2023 Updated:19:24, March 19, 2023 By Reuters

Pedestrians walk in front of a pre-election billboard featuring an image of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, reading "European statesman, our President Milo. Who else?", in Podgorica on March 18, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

PODGORICA - Montenegrins began voting on Sunday in a presidential election that will influence the outcome of a parliamentary vote in June as well as the small Adriatic country's stance toward the West and its ties with neighboring Serbia.

Polling stations in Montenegro, which is a NATO member and a candidate to join the European Union, opened at 7 am (0600 GMT) and will close at 8 pm (1900 GMT). First unofficial results by pollsters, based on a sample of the electorate, are expected about two hours later.

Milo Djukanovic, the incumbent pro-Western president, has held top political posts in the country for 33 years and is seeking another five-year term

Milo Djukanovic, the incumbent pro-Western president, has held top political posts in the country for 33 years and is seeking another five-year term.

His main opponents are Andrija Mandic, the head of the Democratic Front which favors closer ties with Serbia and Russia, and Jakov Milatovic, a pro-Western economist and the deputy head of the Europe Now movement.

If no candidate secures more than 50 percent of votes, a second round of voting between the top two is scheduled for April 2.

Opponents accuse Djukanovic and his left-centrist Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) of corruption, links to organized crime, and of running the country of some 620,000 people as their personal fiefdom - charges Djukanovic and his party deny.

ALSO READ: Montenegro opposition declares vote win in East-West tug of war

Sunday's vote comes amid a year-long political crisis marked by no-confidence votes in two separate governments and a row between lawmakers and Djukanovic over the president's refusal to name a new prime minister.

On Thursday Djukanovic dissolved the parliament and scheduled snap elections for June 11. A victory in the presidential election would bolster the chances of the winner's party in the parliamentary vote.

"I am expecting people will open their eyes, .... that we will start to go forward for a better life," said Mirjana Aleksic, 53, from Podgorica after casting her ballot at a polling station in a local school.

READ MORE: 2 Russian spies sentenced in Montenegro in coup attempt

Montenegro, which mainly relies on revenues from its Adriatic tourism, joined NATO in 2017, following a botched coup attempt a year earlier that the government blamed on Russian agents and Serbian nationalists. Moscow dismissed such claims as absurd.


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