Pro-EU Djukanovic wins Montenegro presidential election

Montenegro's pro-European Union ruling party leader Milo Djukanovic has won the Balkan nation's presidential vote, the state election commission said Monday, confirming provisional results from Sunday evening.

Djukanovic won 54 percent of the vote in Sunday's election with six candidates. Mladen Bojanic, who was backed by some parties supporting closer ties with Russia, came in second with 33.4 percent.

The 56-year-old Djukanovic has been a fixture of Montenegrin politics for nearly three decades, having served as either prime minister or president since 1991 apart from three breaks.

Read more: Montenegro's Milo Djukanovic: The eternal president 

Since 1997, he has been the head of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) that has ruled the nation of 620,000 people since 1991.

Montenegro's presidency is largely a ceremonial post, but he is expected to wield significant power as head of the DPS.

Djukanovic led Montenegro to independence from Serbia in 2006 and was instrumental in the country joining NATO in December.

Read more: EU expansion: Juncker stresses real progress on western Balkans trip

He was prime minister during October's parliamentary elections, when the government said it broke up a pro-Russian coup plot designed to block the country from joining NATO.

Djukanovic and his DPS have prioritized Montenegro joining the European Union.

The opposition accuses Djukanovic of fostering corruption and organized crime.

cw/msh (AP, dpa, Reuters)

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