MONTENEGRO: Montenegro holds first independent election

Montenegrins went to the polls on Sunday (September 10) in a general election expected to give their centre-left government a fresh mandate for their first term as an independent country. Montenegro voted in May to end nearly a century of partnership with Serbia. The feel-good factor of that decision, buoyed by rapid United Nations acceptance and the prospect of quicker European Union accession, is expected to help Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, the architect of the independence drive. Djukanovic, 44, has for the last 15 years been either president or prime minister of the mountainous Adriatic coast republic. He is asking voters not to change horses in mid-stream at a crucial time, when Montenegro must complete its transformation from a socialist Yugoslav republic to well-regulated market economy. Six coalitions, five parties and one citizens' group are running, with a total of 747 candidates vying for parliaments' 81 seats. There are 484,000 registered voters from the country's 650,000 population, where some 43 percent see themselves as Montenegrins, some 32 percent as Serbs and the rest as Bosnians, Albanians or Muslims. The vote is expected to be largely split along ethnic lines as all parties state economic growth and EU entry as their main policy goals.

ITN Source | September 11, 2006

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