April 3 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's pro-EU former economy minister Jakov Milatovic claimed victory in Sunday's presidential run-off, ousting Milo Djukanovic, who has been serving as either president or prime minister for more than 30 years.
“This is the victory of reconciliation, the victory of all of us. Montenegro took a step forward and said goodbye to the regime of Milo Djukanovic, and a step forward towards a European, more beautiful and fairer Montenegro,” Milatovic commented on Sunday evening, as reported by public broadcaster RTCG.
According to data by the local Centre for Monitoring and Research (CEMI), Milatovic, a candidate of the Europe Now party, won 60% support against 40% for Djukanovic, a candidate of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). Voter turnout was 70.4%, according to CEMI.
Milatovic served as economy minister in the government elected after the 2020 parliamentary elections but later split from the ruling coalition. In the presidential election, Milatovic was also supported by the Liberal Party of Montenegro, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Democratic Montenegro. For his part, Djukanovic had the support of the Bosniak Party.
Sunday’s vote was Montenegro’s tenth presidential election since 1990 and the fourth since the country's independence referendum in May 2006.
Djukanovic's DPS party has been in power since the introduction of the multi-party system in 1990.
Montenegro is an EU candidate country since 2010 and a NATO member since 2017.