Montenegro’s political scene was rocked on Sunday night when 37-year-old Jakov Milatovic defeated veteran Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) candidate Milo Djukanovic, in the 2023 presidential election in the small Balkan country.
After three decades in power, the sitting President was defeated in a landslide. Challenging candidate Milatovic won around 60% of the vote in the run-off election. Voter turnout was almost 70%, DW reports.
“Together with all the citizens of Montenegro, tonight we said a crucial no to crime and corruption,” said Milatovic. “This is the night we have been waiting for for over 30 years.”
“Within the next five years, we will lead Montenegro into the European Union,” he promised.
Milatovic's party, the centre-right Europe Now Movement, is only nine months old, and ran on a platform of uprooting corruption, EU integration and improving living standards.
Jakov Milatovic is an economist and former banker at Deutsche Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and he previously served, for a short period of time, as Economy Minister, "in a government negotiated under the watchful eyes of the Serbian Orthodox Church", Radio Free Europe reports.
In the presidential campaign, Milatovic has received support from parties close to Serbia, Russia and the Orthodox Church.
Outgoing president Milo Djukanovic, 61, admitted defeat. “Montenegro has chosen. I respect this choice. I congratulate Jakov Milatovic,” he said.
Djukanovic first came to power in 1991, at the age of 29. He saw the Balkan nation through the independence from Serbia, declared in 2006, and the NATO membership, obtained in 2017, in defiance of Russia. Montenegro is an official EU candidate since 2010.
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In Montenegro, the president has mainly a representative role and the prime minister holds the main levers of power.
Early parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 11 after months of deadlock. The current government was toppled by a no-confidence motion in August 2022 but continues to manage current affairs.
