Montenegro voters begin presidential election

At 7 a.m. local time on April 7, 1,169 polling stations in Montenegro opened to welcome 511,000 voters to elect a president for the second time since the Republic declared independence and separated from the new Yugoslav Federation in 2008.

There are only two candidates running for president of Montenegro this time, including incumbent President Filip Vujanovic and veteran diplomat Miodrag Lekic.

Current President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic. (Source: Reuters)

Montenegrin and international public opinion agree that Mr. Vujanovic will easily defeat his opponent Lekic to be re-elected because during the past 10 years as head of state of Montenegro, he has always won great support from the people of this republic in implementing the policy of building a democratic Montenegro, affiliated with the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Meanwhile, candidate Lekic's election platform is to fight corruption and organized crime, hold early parliamentary elections to form a new government and bring Montenegro into the EU.

Mr. Vujanovic served as President of Montenegro from 2003 to 2006 when the Republic and Serbia formed the new Yugoslav Federation. He was then elected head of state of the independent State of Montenegro with a total population of over 1 million people.

Although the Montenegrin Constitution does not allow any politician or citizen of the country to serve more than two consecutive terms as president, Mr. Vujanovic is still allowed to run for election this time because in February, the Constitutional Court confirmed that his first term was from 2008-2013, and his previous term was not counted because Montenegro is still part of the Federal State with Serbia./.

According to (TTXVN) - DT