Polls have closed in Montenegro’s general elections at 8 p.m. on Sunday, registering a relatively higher turnout compared to last elections.
Political parties in the country run pro-Western and pro-Serb/Russian campaigns. President Milo Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) ran on a Western-oriented agenda, while the pro-Serb opposition called for closer ties to Serbia and Russia, accusing Djukanovic of corruption.
Voter turnout was 74.9 percent at 7 p.m., one hour before the polls closed. In 2016, the turnout was 71.6 percent.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama endorsed Djukanovic and his DPS, while the governments of Kosovo and Albania called on ethnic Albanians in Montenegro to vote for Albanian parties. An estimated 5 percent of the population in the country are Albanians.
Djukanovic has led Montenegro since 1991. Opinion polls ahead of the Sunday vote showed his party winning with slim margins. Today’s preliminary vote results are expected later during the night.
The ruling DPS claimed that Montenegro’s independence was at stake in this election. They warned that the country is facing attempts by Serbia and Russia to bring nationalist and anti-Western allies to power.
Serbs in Montenegro comprise about 30 percent of the population.
In 2019, a Montenegro court found 14 people guilty of a 2016 coup attempt to set up a pro-Russia and anti-NATO leadership.
