Montenegro’s Djukanovic wins presidency, avoids runoff
PODGORICA, Montenegro — Montenegro’s pro-Western ruling party leader Milo Djukanovic has won an outright victory in the country’s presidential vote, avoiding a runoff, according to official results released Monday.
A near-complete vote count showed that Djukanovic won 54.0 per cent of the ballots while his main opponent, Mladen Bojanic, had 33.3 per cent, Montenegro’s state election authorities said.
Lawmaker Draginja Vuksanovic, the first-ever female presidential candidate in the staunchly conservative, male-dominated Balkan nation on the Adriatic Sea, came in third with 8.2 per cent.
Sunday’s vote, the first since Montenegro joined the NATO Western military alliance in December, was seen as a test for Djukanovic, who favours European integration over closer ties to traditional ally Moscow.