Montenegro holds runoff presidential election

by Anadolu Agency

BELGRADE, Serbia

Montenegrin voters head to the polls Sunday for the second round of presidential election after no candidate managed to secure more than 50% of the vote on March 19.

Over 542,000 registered voters will determine who will be president for the next five-year term as the polls opened at 7 a.m. local time (0500GMT) and are set to remain open until 8 p.m. (1800GMT).

Incumbent President Milo Djukanovic of the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro and economist Jakov Milatovic of the newly-formed Europe Now group will face-off in the runoff in the Western Balkan nation’s eighth presidential election since the country transitioned to a multi-party system in 1990.

Having served six times as the prime minister and twice as the president, Djukanovic, 61, is known for his pro-Western policies.

It will be followed by early parliamentary elections on June 11.

The turnout was 62.7% in the first round.

Political crisis in Montenegro

The process of forming a new government, which started after the administration led by Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic failed last year’s vote of confidence, has since devolved into a political crisis.

Abazovic’s government had caused controversy after signing a “fundamental agreement” with the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Patriarch Porfirije for Montenegro to give the church “official status.”

While pro-Serbian parties proposed that lawmaker Miodrag Lekic form a new government, Djukanovic refused to give him a mandate on grounds that he did not fulfill the necessary conditions.

But Lekic was later tasked with forming the government after the passage of a law that restricted presidential powers in the government’s formation.

But he failed to do so, falling short of the majority support in parliament needed to form a government within the stipulated time limit.

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