Montenegro votes in presidential election

PODGORICA, March 19 (Reuters) - Montenegrins voted on Sunday in a presidential election that will influence the outcome of a parliamentary vote in June as well as the small Adriatic country's stance toward the West and its ties with neighbouring Serbia.

Polling stations in Montenegro, which is a NATO member and a candidate to join the European Union, opened at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) and will close at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT). First unofficial results by pollsters, based on a sample of the electorate, are expected about two hours later.

If no candidate secures more than 50% of votes, a second round of voting between the top two is scheduled for April 2.

Milo Djukanovic, the incumbent pro-Western president, has held top political posts in the country for 33 years and is seeking another five-year term.

"This (election) is a chance for Montenegro to confirm it can live in political and social stability, ... and continue (on a path)... to be a part of united countries of Europe," Djukanovic told reporters after voting.

His main opponents are Andrija Mandic, the head of the Democratic Front which favours closer ties with Serbia and Russia, and Jakov Milatovic, a pro-Western economist and the deputy head of the Europe Now movement.

After casting his ballot Mandic told reporters that if he won, his presidency would create "a policy of reconciliation focused on all citizens and which will be waging a strong fight against corruption and organised crime".

Opponents accuse Djukanovic and his left-centrist Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) of corruption, links to organized crime, and of running the country of some 620,000 people as their personal fiefdom - charges Djukanovic and his party deny.

"I am sure,the people have decided to vote for a richer, more just and more beautiful Montenegro," Milatovic said after voting.

Sunday's vote comes amid a year-long political crisis marked by no-confidence votes in two separate governments and a row between lawmakers and Djukanovic over the president's refusal to name a new prime minister.

On Thursday Djukanovic dissolved the parliament and scheduled snap elections for June 11. A victory in the presidential election would bolster the chances of the winner's party in the parliamentary vote.

"I am expecting people .... we will start to go forward for a better life," said Mirjana Aleksic, 53, from Podgorica after casting her ballot at a polling station in a local school.

Over the years, Montenegro has been divided between those who identify as Montenegrins and those who see themselves as Serbs and opposed the country's 2006 independence from a former union with neighbouring and much larger Serbia.

The country, which mainly relies on revenues from its Adriatic tourism, joined NATO in 2017, following a botched coup attempt a year earlier that the government blamed on Russian agents and Serbian nationalists.

Moscow dismissed such claims as absurd.

Following the invasion of Ukraine last year, Montenegro joined EU sanctions against Russia. The Kremlin has placed Montenegro on its list of unfriendly states. Reporting by Aleksandar VasovicEditing by Frances Kerry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Thomson Reuters

Reports on the Western Balkans and Ukraine.

Previously worked with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network as editor-trainer. While serving as a correspondent for the Associated Press covered the war in Kosovo in 1998-1999, the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia and Montenegro, insurgencies in North Macedonia and the Presevo Valley, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. During the 1990s worked as an editor and correspondent at-large for Belgrade's Radio B92 covering wars in Croatia and Bosnia and peace processes between Israel and the Palestinian territories and in Northern Ireland.

Awarded with APME Deadline Reporting Award in 2004 for the capture of Saddam.