Podgorica April 2 (UNA): Montenegrins are set to cast their ballots in a runoff from a presidential election Sunday, pitting incumbent Milo Djukanovic against a Western-educated economist who has vowed to lead the country out of a crisis marked by no-confidence votes in two governments.
Polling stations will open at 7 am (05:00 GMT) and close at 8 pm (18:00 GMT). The first unofficial results by pollsters, based on a sample of voters, are expected in about two hours.
Djukanovic, 61, has controlled Montenegro as president or prime minister for 33 years, since the start of the collapse of the now-defunct federal Yugoslavia, according to Reuters.
Opponents have long accused the ex-communist and his Democratic Socialist Party (DPS) of corruption, ties to organized crime and running the tiny Adriatic republic, which relies mainly on tourism revenue along its scenic coastline, as their fiefdom, allegations they deny.
His challenger is Jakov Milatović, 37, a former economy minister and vice president of the Europe Now movement who has pledged to reduce graft, improve living standards and strengthen ties with both the European Union and the former Yugoslav republic of Serbia.
Djukanovic received 35.37% of the vote in the first round of the election on 19 March, with Milatović receiving 28.92%, necessitating a run-off where neither secured a majority of 50%, and analysts expected it to be a tough race-up.
Sunday’s vote follows a year of political instability that has led to the collapse of two governments over a vote of no confidence and a dispute between lawmakers and Djukanovic over his refusal to appoint a new prime minister.
On 16 March, Djukanovic dissolved parliament and held snap elections on 11 June. And although the presidential post in Montenegro is largely ceremonial, winning the election would boost the winning party’s chances in June.
Montenegro has a legacy of bitter divisions between those who consider themselves Montenegrins and those who consider themselves Serbs and oppose the country’s independence.
HF