The first round of presidential elections took place in Montenegro. The first projections show that the current president Milo Đukanović and the leader of the pro-European party Jakov Milatović made it to the second round.
Half a million voters in Montenegro chose between seven candidates in the first round. In addition to the current president and leader of the Democratic Party socialists (DPS) Milo Đukanović, the leader of the pro-Serbian Democratic Front (DF) Andrija Mandićrepresentative of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Draginja Vuksanović Stankovićpresident of the Democrats Aleksa BečićJakov Milatović from Movement Europe Now (PES), leader of United Montenegro Goran Danilović and influencer Jovan Radulović.
The polls closed at 8 p.m. According to the first predictions Center for monitoring and research, Đukanović qualified for the second round with 36 percent and Milatović with 26 percent of votes of support, reports Al Jazira Balkans. According to the Croatian news agency Hina, the voter turnout was 63.1 percent. The second round of elections is scheduled for April 2.
Before the announcement of the first results, Đukanović said that the elections were an opportunity for Montenegro to remain committed implementing reforms, raising standards and achieving the goal, “which is wholeheartedly supported by three quarters of Montenegrin society, i.e. the goal of being part of the family of united European countries and nations“. Milatović just before the announcement of the first results, he said that he entered the match to beat Đukanović and “everything it represents, as it is a symbol of the past and the policies that divided the country“.
The presidential election also measures the pulse before the parliamentary election
The outcome of the election will be important, among other things, for the fate of Đukanović decades the ruling, and from 2020, the opposition Democratic Party socialists (DPS), as well as for the ruling coalition since then.
They also mean an important test for the parties before the early parliamentary elections, which Đukanović announced for the 11th. Junethen when Mandate Miodrag Lekić failed to form a new government within the 90-day deadline.
It is the first election at the national level since it was held DPS lost power after the August 2020 elections. With a narrow parliamentary majority, the heterogeneous government was then formed coalitions around the pro-Serbian Democratic Front party, the Democrats and the citizen movement Ura.
The mandate of the Montenegrin president lasts five years, and all previous presidents were from Đukanović’s Democratic Party socialists. The elections were monitored by several domestic and foreign observers.
Source: Rtvslo
