Reversal in Podgorica local elections, list of Milo Djukanovic's party

According to preliminary results published last night, the Democratic Party of Socialists is leading the local elections in Podgorica, winning about 29 per cent of the vote.

It is followed by the coalition of the Movement Europe Now and Democratic Montenegro, with about 23 per cent of the vote.

Meanwhile, the coalition “for Podgorica's Future” has 21 per cent of the vote.

Otherwise, the extraordinary elections for Montenegro's capital Assembly were held in Podgorica yesterday, where 13 electoral lists participated.

In this fair vote, there have been approximately 146 thousand voters who choose 58 advisers for the Podgorica Assembly.

According to the media, the decline of power in Podgorica was a consequence of the party's dispute and partition that holds power in Montenegro, the Europe Movement Now.

The party was split between the current president, Jakov Milatovic, who was one of its founders, and the prime minister and chairman of this movement, Milojko Spajic.

Analysts consider Podgorica's elections important and view it as a kind of test for possible extraordinary parliamentary elections in Montenegro, which, according to some estimates, could occur due to still pronounced political instability in the country.

Previous elections for the capital's Parliament were held in October 2022, when after nearly three decades former President Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists lost power at the state level and then in the Montenegrin capital in a wave of general political changes in the state.

Montenegro has about 63,000 inhabitants, and about 180,000 of them live in Podgorica, according to the 2023 census.