an election that could mark a turning point in the country’s history

Voters in Montenegro are called to the polls this Sunday, March 19 for the first round of the presidential election. A vote that could mark a turning point in the history of the small country, in political crisis for months.

With our correspondent in Podgorica, Jean-Arnault Derens

On the one hand, there is the veteran of Balkan politics, Milo Djukanovicwho has alternated for 32 years the functions of Prime Minister and President of the Republic, but who is not the favorite to obtain a new mandate at the head of the State, because he has lost his hand since his Democratic Party of Socialists was disavowed by voters in the August 2020 legislative elections.

Opposite, there are several candidates from the new majority, which brings together political currents that everything opposes. Milo Djukanovic has his “ favorite opponent in the person of the leader of the Democratic Front, pro-Serb and pro-Russian. The incumbent wants to present himself as the sole guarantor of Montenegro’s European and pro-Western commitment.

However, his arguments no longer take on public opinion, and it is rather the economist Jakov Milatovic who should qualify for the second round. Indeed, the population is tired of identity quarrels and patriotic speeches; rather, she expects an improvement in her living conditions.


A pedestrian walks past a pre-election poster of candidate Jakov Milatovic in Podgorica, Montenegro, March 15, 2023.

In order to dramatize the issue a little more, Milo Djukanovic dissolved Parliament two days before the first round, as if to better indicate that he was playing double or quits.

►Also listen Montenegro: an uncertain and tense presidential election

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