Podgorica, April 4, (dpa/GNA) – Montenegro’s President, Milo Djukanovic, lost the run-off election on Sunday to pro-Serbian Jakov Milatovic from the party Europe Now!, according to the results available.
Milatovic received 59% to 60% of the votes, while Djukanovic received only 40% to 41%, according to two research institutes, CeMI and CDT, whose observers recorded the results at each polling station.
Though the state election commission has not yet published the official results of the election, the institutes’ estimates are considered relatively accurate.
Milatovic was supported by the pro-Serbian camp, which advocates for a unification with or close ties to Serbia. Djukanovic’s departure suggests there may be a significant change in Montenegro’s future foreign policy.
Djukanovic congratulated his successor on Sunday night. Milatovic’s supporters at Europe Now!’s headquarters meanwhile chanted “Milo (Djukanovic), it’s over!”.
The incumbent leader said the victory would change Montenegro, by eradicating crime and corruption, and prioritizing the road to Europe.
For the last 30 years, Djukanovic has dominated Montenegrin politics, twice as president and four times as prime minister.
His rule was overshadowed by corruption, nepotism and ties to organized crime.
A lasting achievement however is that he cut ties with the Yugoslav-Serb warlord Slobodan Milosevic in 1997, and peacefully led his country to independence in 2006.
Djukanovic also cut several ties with Russia, who had brought large investments to the country in the 1990s.
He later led his country NATO into in 2017.
GNA