Montenegro coalition wins landslide

The ruling pro-European coalition that led the tiny Balkan state of Montenegro to independence convincingly won early parliamentary elections, an independent vote monitoring group said.

The Centre for Monitoring said that based on a complete vote count, the European Montenegro grouping of longtime Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic won about 51%, giving it 49 seats in the 81-seat parliament.

The opposition pro-Serb Socialist People’s Party was a distant second with about 17%, giving it 16 seats.

Official results are expected today, but the independent count made at polling stations by the group’s monitors after the polls close has proved highly reliable in the past.

“It is certain that our coalition has scored an absolute victory in this election, the most convincing in Montenegro’s history,” Mr Djukanovic said as hundreds of his supporters celebrated on the streets of the capital Podgorica with fireworks, honking of car horns and by firing their guns into the air.

“People have given their vote to the certain European future of Montenegro,” he added in his victory speech.

The fragmented opposition conceded the defeat, the worst since 1990 when first democratic elections were held in Montenegro.

“We went into the election disunited,” said opposition leader Andrija Mandic. “The dispersal of opposition votes handed the victory to the ruling coalition.”