* Election first since defeat of veteran leader Djukanovic
* Former Yugoslav republic is an EU membership candidate
* Polls show pro-European parties dominating vote
(Adds projections of vote results, recasts, trims)
PODGORICA, June 11 (Reuters) – Montenegro’s Europe Now
Movement (PES) won 25.5% of votes in a snap election on Sunday,
the Center for Monitoring and Research (CEMI) pollster said on
the basis of a projection of results from a sample of polling
stations.
The pro-European Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which
ruled Montenegro between 1990 and 2020, came in second with
23.8% of support.
The conservative alliance For the Future of Montenegro, led
by the pro-Serbian and pro-Russian Democratic Front, garnered
14.7%.
Another pro-EU grouping comprising the Democratic Party and
the URA movement of outgoing Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic came
in fourth with 12.3%, CEMI said on the basis of 90.5% of ballots
counted in a representative sample of 400 polling stations
across the country.
The state election commission is expected to announce the
final results in the coming days.
Fifteen parties and alliances are vying for 81 parliamentary
seats in the country of just over 620,000 people.
The PES, which has pro-European Union policies and also
wants closer ties with neighboring Serbia, failed to secure
enough votes to rule alone, and will have to seek partners in
the 81-seat parliament to form the government.
Montenegrins hope the new administration will improve the
country’s economy and infrastructure, and take the NATO member
state closer to EU membership.
The vote was the first in the former Yugoslav republic since
Milo Djukanovic, former leader of the DPS, lost the presidential
election in April and stepped down after 30 years in power.
According to CEMI, voter turnout by the time polls closed at
8 p.m. (1800 GMT) was unusually low at 56.4%. Observers say
there were few irregularities.
The vote is expected to end a political deadlock in which
two governments that came to power after 2020 protests backed by
the influential Serbian Orthodox Church collapsed after
no-confidence votes.
Montenegro joined NATO in 2017, a year after a botched coup
attempt that the then government blamed on Russian agents and
Serbian nationalists. Moscow dismissed such claims as “absurd”,
and the Serbian government denied involvement.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Montenegro,
unlike Serbia, joined EU sanctions against Moscow, sent aid to
Ukraine, and expelled a number of Russian diplomats. The Kremlin
has placed Montenegro on its list of unfriendly states.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade, and Stevo
Vasiljevic and Branko Filipovic in Podgorica; Editing by David
Holmes, Ros Russell and Jan Harvey)
