Luxembourg, 15/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - The party in power, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which is pro-European, is believed to have won the early parliamentary elections in Montenegro on Sunday 14 October. Already in power for 23 years, the DPS is said - according to several estimates - to have obtained between 46% and 48.4% of the votes, as opposed to 20% to 22.5% for the Democratic Front, the main opposition force. However the DPS apparently does not have the majority in Parliament, which counts 81 seats.
The head of the party, Milo Djukanovic, said that his party would constitute a government which would take the path of European integration. He also said that he would not be prime minister for a fourth time. The government had decided to organise early elections - six months before the planned date - because it wanted a complete mandate of four years in order to better pursue EU accession - for which Podgorica obtained the opening of negotiations on 29 June. (CG/transl.fl)