Oppositional Democratic Party of Socialists Wins Most Votes in Podgorica Election, Ruling Europe Now Comes in Second

Podgorica (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

According to preliminary results based on 70 percent of ballots counted, the most votes in Podgorica’s Sept. 29 local election were won by the oppositional Democratic Party of Socialists – about 29 percent – while the coalition of Montenegro Prime Minister Milojko Spajic’s Europe Now Movement and Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Becic’s Democratic Montenegro experienced a drastic drop in popularity, garnering 23 percent of votes.

With no single party or coalition able to form a majority local government, analysts predict decisive roles will be played by the tickets backed by President Jakov Milatovic and former prime minister Dritan Abazovic.

The Movement for Podgorica, unofficially led by President Milatovic, along with Abazovic’s United Reform Action and Nebojsa Medojevic’s Movement for Change each won some 10 percent of votes.

Meanwhile, the pro-Serbia coalition led by the Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandic’s New Serbian Democracy, was supported by some 21 percent of voters.

The two other tickets that will most likely win representation in the Montenegrin capital’s assembly are the coalition between the Social Democrats and Social Democratic Party, which has so far secured six percent of votes, and the Party of European Progress, led by former prime minister and one-time Democratic Party of Socialists vice president Dusko Markovic, which is currently hovering on the threshold.

This election is the second Podgorica has held since Milo Djukanovic’s Democratic Socialist Party lost power two years ago, following a 25-year reign.

The snap local election was largely spurred by a split in the ruling Europe Now Movement, caused by a rift between Prime Minister Milojko Spajic and President Jakov Milatovic. The conflict resulted in Milatovic and a number of party officials leaving Europe Now earlier this year, after which his faction collaborated with the opposition to cut short the current City Assembly’s term.