Montenegro votes in presidential elections By Reuters

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© Reuters. Voters line up at a polling station during the presidential election in Podgorica, Montenegro, March 19, 2023. REUTERS/Stevo Vasiljevic 2/6

Alexander Vasovich

PODGORICA (Reuters) – Montenegrins voted Sunday in a presidential election that will influence the outcome of June’s parliamentary elections, as well as the small Adriatic country’s position on the West and its ties to neighboring Serbia.

Polling stations in Montenegro, which is a member of NATO and a candidate for EU membership, opened at 7:00 (06:00 GMT) and will close at 20:00 (19:00 GMT). The first unofficial results of public opinion polls, based on a sample of the electorate, are expected in about two hours.

If none of the candidates receives more than 50% of the votes, a second round of voting between the two best is scheduled for April 2.

Milo Djukanovic, the incumbent pro-Western president, has held the country’s top political positions for 33 years and is up for a new five-year term.

“These (elections) are a chance for Montenegro to confirm that it can live in conditions of political and social stability … and continue (on the way) … to be part of the united countries of Europe,” Djukanovic told reporters after the vote. .

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

After the vote, Mandić told reporters that if he wins, his presidency will create “a policy of reconciliation focused on all citizens that will fight resolutely against corruption and organized crime.”

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

“I’m sure the people have decided to vote for a richer, fairer and more beautiful Montenegro,” Milatovic said after the vote.

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

On Thursday, Djukanovic dissolved parliament and called early elections for June 11. A victory in the presidential elections will increase the chances of the winning party in the parliamentary elections.

“I am waiting for people… we will start moving forward towards a better life,” Mirjana Aleksic, 53, from Podgorica, said after voting at a polling station at a local school.

For many years, Montenegro has been divided between those who identify as Montenegrins and those who identify as Serbs and opposed the country’s independence in 2006 from a former union with neighboring and much larger Serbia.

The country, which relies heavily on Adriatic tourism revenue, joined NATO in 2017 after a failed coup attempt a year earlier that the government blamed on Russian agents and Serbian nationalists. Moscow dismissed such claims as absurd.

After invading Ukraine last year, Montenegro joined EU sanctions against Russia. The Kremlin has put Montenegro on the list of unfriendly states.