Djukanovic Wins Montenegro's Presidential Election

Preliminary results of Sunday's presidential elections in Montenegro show Milo Djukanovic, the leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, has won another term as head of state after serving as Prime Minister six times and as President once.

With 95 per cent of the ballots counted, exit polls suggest Djukanovic won 53.9 per cent of the votes, securing victory in the first round.

Cheering crowds gathered at his party headquarter immediately after national television aired the unofficial results.

"This is confirmation of Montenegro's decision to continue on its European path that will lead us to full EU membership," Djukanovic told his supporters.

The turnout was 64 per cent out of almost 530,000 eligible voters in the small Adriatic country of some 650,000 people.

The turnout was similar to the 2013 presidential election, when soon to be former president Filip Vujanovic won his second term as President of Montenegro.

According to Montenegro's CEMI election monitor, Mladen Bojanic, an independent candidate supported by the majority of the opposition parties, came second with 33.4 per cent of the votes.

Bojanic conceded defeat, saying: "Montenegro chose the way it chose ... You know who we had as an opponent, a man who captured the state."

The first female presidential runner, Draginja Vuksanovic, from the small opposition Social Democratic Party, came third with 8.1 per cent of votes. The pro-Russian candidate, Marko Milacic, came fourth with 2.7 per cent of the votes.

The last general election, in October 2016, was overshadow by accusations of an alleged Russian-backed "coup plot", and two opposition leaders are now on trial over their roles in the alleged coup.

While Sunday's presidential...