Milatovic wins Montenegro presidency beating veteran leader
Early projections of election results at Montenegro’s presidential runoff vote suggest economy expert and political novice Jakov Milatovic won, defeating incumbent Milo Djukanovic.
Milatovic’s victory is believed to reflect voter fatigue with Djukanovic and disillusionment with established politicians.
Montenegro's former minister of economic development Jakov Milatovic has won the country's presidential runoff, according to results from a leading pollster, beating long-time leader Milo Djukanovic in a landslide.
"I congratulate the new president Jakov Milatovic," said Ana Nenezic, the executive director of the Center for Monitoring and Research group on Sunday.
The pollster said Milatovic won around 60 percent while Djukanovic won around 40 percent. Official results are not expected before Monday.
Analysts said the results could change slightly as the vote count progresses but that the gap between the two is too wide for major changes.
“This result is an indicator that the final result won't be substantially different,” said Nenezic.
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Milatovic’s triumph
Milatovic, 36, first entered politics in 2020 after earning his education in Britain and the United States.
Djukanovic is credited with leading his country to independence from Serbia in 2006 and defying Russia to steer Montenegro into NATO in 2017. But critics say Djukanovic and his Democratic Party of Socialists have let crime and corruption engulf society.
The DPS was ousted from power in a 2020 parliamentary vote but Djukanovic has remained in office until his five-year mandate finished.
His defeat on Sunday means that both he and his party will be in opposition for the first time since late 1980s’.
Sunday’s runoff vote was scheduled after none of the contenders won a majority in the first round of voting two weeks ago.
Some 540,000 people were eligible to vote. Montenegro has a population of 620,000 and borders Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo and the Adriatic Sea.
With Milatovic’s triumph, his Europe Now movement could also find itself in a position to dominate the next government after June’s parliamentary election.
Europe Now emerged after the first government that resulted from the 2020 parliamentary election collapsed.
As the economy minister in that government, Milatovic gained popularity by increasing salaries but critics say this was done at the cost of the already depleted health system and not as an outcome of reform.
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