Djukanovic Faces Strong Challenger Promising Fresh Start For Montenegro
#Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time on April 2 in the tiny Adriatic nation and close at 8 p.m. in balloting that could prove pivotal as to whether #Montenegro can escape two years of political stalemate and return to the path of reform.
#Djukanovic topped the first round of voting with 35.3 percent, edging out Jakov #Milatovic, the former economic minister, who received 29.2 percent. Analysts say the small margin of victory likely mean the runoff will be a close race.
The 61-year-old, the head of the Democratic Party of Socialists, has effectively led Montenegro as president or prime minister since 1991. He ran on the slogan "Our President," but his three decades in power have been dogged by perceptions of rampant organized crime and corruption.
"I'm absolutely convinced that I will become a new president of the country, that today the citizens of Montenegro will send the current president to the political past," said Milatovic before casting his ballot.
#Milatovic, 36, is a leading member of the #Europe #Now movement. He served as economics minister in a government cobbled together by the influential Serbian Orthodox Church
https://www.rferl.org/a/montenegro-vote-new-president-political-turmoil/32345805.html