Presidential election in Montenegro advances to second round

In the statement made by the independent Monitoring and Research Center (CeMI), which monitors the elections in the country, it was stated that 99.2 percent of the votes were counted, and that the 2 candidates who received the most votes among the 7 candidates advanced to the second round to be held on April 2. In the statement, it was reported that current President Milo Djukanovic from the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS) received 35.3 percent of the votes, while the leader of the European Movement Jakov Milatovic received 29.2 percent. Djukanovic, the favorites of the pre-election polls, and Milatovic from the European Movement will compete for the presidency once again on April 2nd. Djukanovic thanked the voters and noted that the votes he received would be an "important advantage" for him in the second round. Another favorite name in the pre-election polls, Andrija Mandic, one of the leaders of the Democratic Front (DF), who received 19.3 percent of the votes, thanked the voters who voted for them and said that they will support Milatovic in the second round of the election. Draginja Vuksanovic Stankovic, one of the female MPs of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), announced that she resigned from her party and from her parliamentary position after the election, where she received 3.2 percent of the votes. Democratic Montenegrin President Aleksa Becic, who is among the 7 candidates in the presidential election, received 10.9 percent, Montenegrin Union President Goran Danilovic 1.4 percent and social media phenomenon independent Jovan Jodzir Radulovic received 0.8 percent. In the statement, it was recorded that 63.1 percent of 542 thousand 154 registered voters cast their votes.