Former Economy Minister Jakov Milatović is set to become the next president of Montenegro.
Milatović, who campaigned on a pro-EU and anti-corruption platform, won around 60 percent of the vote in Sunday’s presidential runoff according to local pollsters.
Milatović, who used to be part of the current coalition government, successfully defeated the Balkan republic’s long-standing incumbent, Milo Đukanović, who has held various positions of power for the past three decades. Đukanović has conceded defeat.
Milatović was jubilant. “Tonight is the night we have been waiting for over 30 years. I wish you a happy victory,” Milatović told supporters of his center-right Europe Now movement on Sunday evening, according to Reuters.
“Within the next five years, we will lead Montenegro into the European Union,” he added.
Although the presidential role is mostly a ceremonial position in Montenegro, where most of the political power rests with the prime minister, the presidential runoff’s results are expected to boost the winning party’s chances in the next snap parliamentary elections in June.
Milatović, an Oxford-educated 36-year-old, defeated Đukanović, a 61-year-old former communist who had been in power as prime minister or president almost continuously since 1991. Đukanović was an ally of Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, before he broke with Milošević in 1997 over disagreements about the country’s international isolation.
Đukanović has accused the current government — which Milatović used to be part of — of hosting pro-Serbian and pro-Russian elements, which it denies.
Montenegro has been mired in political instability, most notably last year when the government collapsed over a controversial agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Đukanović will remain in office until the handover on May 21.
